


To Hide a Soul

by Pandar_Bear



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Attempt at Humor, Attempt at a Plot, Bad Puns, Has honestly turned more into a 2nd person story instead of reader insert but oh well, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Just the occasional mental breakdown, Multi, Named Reader, No graphic depictions of voilence yet but will be later on, POV Female Character, Post-Undertale Pacifist Route, Reader Is Not Frisk (Undertale), Reader is not quite human, Reader-Insert, Selectively Mute Frisk (Undertale), Skeleton Puns, Slow Burn Reader/Sans, Wholesome, You could choke on all the fluff in this story, no biggie
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-09-30 07:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 32,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17219930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pandar_Bear/pseuds/Pandar_Bear
Summary: It's been a little over a year since the monsters emerged from Mount Ebott. This was a big problem for you because it turns out, you're half monster. As long as no monsters saw your odd soul, the fact that you were part human and part monster wasn't too obvious. This wouldn't be such a huge secret you had to keep if so many humans weren't so blatantly against monsters. If somebody learned you were the product of a relationship between a human and monster, it could spell out big trouble. All you had to do was avoid monsters to keep them from getting any chances to see your soul, and you were home free. Accounting for the fact that you worked at a hospital that didn't even know how to treat monsters, you only had to stay away from them, and you were fine. This was a pretty easy feat as long as you didn't live near monsters, which was something you would normally check for before moving into a new apartment. You had just been so eager to find an apartment that would take you without any negotiating about your previous evictions, that you didn't bother to check before agreeing to move in. Ignoring this carelessness, what were the chances of your new apartment being near any monsters? Surely the chances weren't too great, right?





	1. Moving in

**Author's Note:**

> Well this is my first go at any type of published work or fan-fiction, so helpful criticism is very welcome. I've never actually written any type of full story by myself before, so please forgive me if there are any confusions in the story. Also, I'm the only person proof reading this, and my grammar is not the finest grammar in the land, so there most likely will be a few grammar mistakes as well. Anyway, I really hope you enjoy the story, and hopefully you can expect an update at least once a week. (Update: Expect updates closer to whenever there's a major school break. I hate to make everything so spaced out like this, but I just don't have time to work on it otherwise.)

So far, it'd been a pretty awesome week. On Monday, you had gotten the shift hours you'd been coveting for the past two years. You were a nurse, and normally your shift hours followed mostly night shifts with the occasional shift that would last late into the morning. To be frank, it felt like these brutal hours that started around 9 pm and could last all the way to 9 am were going to be the death of you. Of course, this pain all ended recently when one of the senior nurses quit, and you made it clear that his former hours now were rightfully yours. You could finally sleep like a normal human instead of some coffee-driven creature of the night. 

The only thing dampening your mood was the fact that you had been evicted from your apartment for the third time that year and it was only May. You actually got evicted rather often, thanks to your previous shift hours and the very odd sleep schedule that accompanied it. Every time you were evicted, it was because how often you had managed to wake up your neighbors at the unholy hours of 3 or even 4 am on days like Saturday or Sunday, thanks to your sleep schedule. You were downright dreading that you wouldn't even be able to find an apartment complex willing to take you because of your horrible recommendations from your previous apartments, but thankfully enough the first landlord you messaged didn't even ask for recommendations. He simply just asked when you could move in, which was a curveball you sure weren't expecting.

You weren't sure whether it was the apartments cheap rate or the seemingly apathetic landlord, but you were rather worried about the quality of your new apartment. Whatever the case may be, you would know soon enough. Honestly, as long as your apartment wasn't full of monsters, you didn't care. It wasn't that you were racist or anything. You had a legitimate reason to be wary of them. You, or more specifically your soul, wasn't exactly normal, and you had known this since you were very young. Ever since the monsters came out of Mount Ebott, they'd educated the humans about souls and their properties. Even without the monsters help, you had known the properties of a soul for quite some time. Your father was the one who taught you about them. He was also the one that taught you that your soul wasn't normal, and the reasons behind it.

Your mother was like any other human, except she managed to stumble upon the last known monster camp after the wars between humans and monsters. Somehow, these monsters had avoided getting spotted by the military for quite some time, and they were managing to live quiet, secret lives. Your mother had fallen in love with one monster, your father, and they eventually had you. It took a few years after you were born, but eventually, another human found out about the monsters and ratted them out to the government. You were forced to flee with your mother to keep them from learning about your origins. After that, you never learned what happened to your father or monster friends, but could only assume the worst.

Ever since then, you'd spent your life finishing school, then college. Present day, you worked as a nurse and spent most of your free time locked up alone in your apartment mixed with the occasional hang out with your only real friend, Thomas. You didn't really hang out with anyone else but him, not that this bothered you. You'd rather have one close friend than a million acquaintances. As of right now, you were traveling in Thomas' car towards your new apartment.

You felt the worried anticipation digging a pit in your stomach, half expecting the apartment complex to be in shambles for the low price it was costing you. You stared out the window silently watching all the buildings, people, and occasional monster zoom past until they were lost behind you in a deep mist that engulfed the city. Heavy fog rolled along the streets like thick balls of wool, and the sky above matched the scenery quite well. The clouds were a deep grey and looked ready to burst with a downpour of rain any second. Most people dreaded days like this. The streets would become muddy and hard to walk, you were guaranteed to get soaked from even a short walk, and traffic would slow to a snail's pace from people being worried to drive fast in the mixture of thick fog and rain, but you had a deep fondness for days like this. On days like this, you would enjoy nothing more than to curl up on a porch with an overhead cover and watch as sheets of rain fell onto the street like streamlined bullets. You truly couldn't wait until the clouds finally gave way to release a shower from above. You could only hope the clouds would be courteous enough to wait until you were fully moved in. After all, you didn't exactly want to be trying to dry off all of your belongings for the next week or so. Lost in thought, you barely realize when the car pulls into a parking space right in front of your new apartment complex.

"Huh, it doesn't seem to be in shambles from the outside at least." You feel a spark of hope ignite in your soul at the prospect that your apartment may not be a dingy rat's nest. You hear Thomas let out a relieved sigh beside you.

"Me too. I was worried this was gonna end up like the hobo squatter apartment fiasco all over again."

He gave out a hearty laugh after promptly reminding you of the time when you moved into an apartment where a hobo had obviously lived for quite some time. The landlord didn't even bother to check the apartment's condition before letting you in, which was how you saw the whole scene. Man was the poor guy horrified you were gonna immediately rip up your leasing contract.

"Me and you both. For the price I'm getting this place, I was honestly expecting it to be exactly that." You giggle back in response before you both climb out of the car, and head towards the You Haul that was hooked onto the back. You watch as he pulls a small key that was tucked away in his pocket and unlocks the door to the You Haul.

"I'm gonna go get the key to the room. Give me a second and I'll help you unload all the stuff." You comment before walking into the building immediately heading towards the front desk. A small pudgy man sits there seemingly working on a computer in front of him. 

"Excuse me? I'm the new tenant, Calibri. I was hoping to get the key to my apartment. I know I didn't give any warning that I'd be coming, but I already finished the paperwork. I was hoping to be able to move in today. I don't really have anywhere to stay right now, so even if it's not completely prepared for me to move in yet, I'd be fine finishing the cleaning and such myself." You look at him hopefully, half expecting him to shoo you out based on the emails he'd sent to you, which were all written very nonchalantly.

"Eh? Well you certainly weren't lying when you said you could move in right away, were you?" He gave a warm chuckle before reaching under his desk for something. "Admittedly, it isn't completely ready yet, but all it really needs is a good dusting and a quick sweep. So if you really don't mind all that, then you're free to go ahead and move in. I received all the paperwork you sent this morning, so there aren't any legalities we have to worry about."

You feel your heart soar. The landlord seemed like a genuinely friendly guy, and the interior of the building seemed rather well kept. Which kept the lingering question on your mind: Why was it so cheap? You ignore that for the time being and wait expectantly as he shuffles through a drawer full of keys. 

"Here's a key. You're room in room 3J. That's on floor three." You take the key from his hands and give a thankful nod before triumphantly walking out the door. You hold the key in the air for your friend to see, and he gives you a thumbs up. 

"We should probably go check out the room before we start moving my stuff up there, right? You know, to get a layout of where we should put everything." You shout as you walk to him. He nods and walks to your side to join you. Together, you walk back in and take the stairs until you reach the third floor. You exit the stairwell together and begin to wander the halls until you stumble upon a room labeled 3J.

"Awesome! Look, I got an end room! That means I only have to worry about one room of noisy neighbors beside me!" You give him a delighted glance and quickly unlock the room before stepping in. It was a rather humble room. It had a compact kitchen that was joined with the living room, and two open doorways that revealed the bathroom and bedroom. It wasn't huge, but it also wasn't tiny. It was more than you were expecting for your money, and it wasn't dirty either. You take a moment to admire your room before you notice a small glass door leading outside. 

"DOES IT HAVE A BALCONY!?" You practically squeal in delight. "THOMAS I THINK IT HAS A BALCONY!" You squeal out again before he puts a hand over your mouth.

"First off, no more coffee for you today. Second off, let's check it out. It may just be a fire escape." He gives a slight smile at your enthusiasm, and you race towards the door hoping for the best. You open it in a hurried motion and stare in delight at the balcony before you. It wasn't magnificent, as it was a joint balcony that seemed to meet with every other room and had no dividers between rooms, but you were absolutely fine with that. 

"Why is this place so cheap?! It's pretty great!" You say confused with a smile on your face that stretched from ear to ear. Thomas gives you an equally confused shrug.

"I don't know. I'd be wary though. What if it's like a drug den or something?" He comments before you both head back downstairs to start unloading all your belongings. It takes about 2 hours before you've officially unloaded all your belongings and boxes into the apartment, and about 2 more after that for you and Thomas to get everything unpacked and in place. The apartment still looked rather bare, now only containing the essentials for each room with no decoration, but you didn't mind this much. You were never really a big decorator. By the time Thomas and you finish, it's about 7 pm, and you can actually hear your stomach growling like a bear. Thomas gives a hearty laugh after hearing the growl himself, and you decided to treat him to dinner for helping you unpack.

As you and Thomas get ready to head out, you begin to hear talking next door. You look at Thomas confused, having thought your neighbors weren't home, but obviously, you were wrong.

"SANS! I TOLD YOU TO CLEAN UP YOUR SOCKS! UNDYNE AND ALPHYS WILL BE OVER AT ANY MOMENT! SURELY NOBODY WANTS TO SEE YOUR SOCK TORNADOES EXCEPT FOR YOU!" One voice loudly yells. God, he was really loud. You sigh realizing having just this one neighbor may be worse than if all your walls were connected to another apartment room. You give an exasperated sigh and glance over at Thomas, who seems equally stunned by the volume of your neighbor's voice. You both quickly exit the building, not wanting to end up with headaches at the volume of that person's voice, whoever they were.

After a hardy meal, Thomas drops you back off at your new apartment, and you thank him for helping you move in. You both part ways and you head up to your apartment secretly hoping that your neighbor was just in a bad mood, and the volume that his voice was at wasn't a common happening. You enter your apartment and plop down on the couch. You turn on the TV that sat on top of a sturdy coffee table and begin to flip through channels for something to watch. Next door, you hear an assortment of different voices. One stays at a constant and insanely loud volume, one seems to flicker between a normal tone and a tone similar to the one you first heard, and the other two are mostly normal. After a while, the intensity of the two voices seem to become normal to you, and you eventually drift into a calm sleep without a worry in the world. Thankfully, you had tomorrow to relax in the confines of your apartment before Monday rolled back around, and you would have to start waking up early for your new work schedule.


	2. A Comforting Storm

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You enjoy tea and watch a storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Decided to go ahead and post the second chapter because why not. Hope you enjoy! As always, criticism and grammar corrections are welcome.

You jolt awake in what you assume is the middle of the night to an enormous crashing sound coming from outside. Admittedly, you were already half awake thanks to your horrendous sleep schedule, but you would much rather blame the thunderstorm that was raging outside. You were instantly wide awake. After all, this was the time in which you were used to being awake for work, and you still hadn't quite shaken off your old sleep schedule. Your joints groan in protest as you rise off your couch and stretch out. Looking towards the digital clock that took the place of your microwave's timer whenever it wasn't being used, you see it's about 5:30 am. 

"About time it started raining." You say to yourself in a rather croaky, half-asleep tone. Walking into your rather compact kitchen, you shuffled through one of the boxes you had yet to unpack and pulled out a tea kettle, a box of tea bags, and a mug. You filled the tea kettle with water and spun the knob on the oven that controlled the stove's heat until it seemed like a reasonable setting. You quickly placed the kettle on top of the stove and leaned against the counter as you think of what to do while it gets hot. Glancing out the glass door that led to your joint balcony, a strong urge to go out and watch the storm came over you. On your way out, you make sure to grab a throw blanket from your couch and drape it over your shoulders to provide slight protection from the storm. 

As you unclicked the lock the held the door closed and opened it, a wind instantly blew into your apartment almost threatening to bowl you over. However furious the wind might've felt, you braced yourself against it and stepped onto the covered balcony with great pleasure in being in the midst of the storm. The storm outside seemingly raged with a vengeance against everything that fell under its domain. The rain fell so heavily, you couldn't see anything beyond your balcony except for blurry outlines of objects that rested beneath the street lamps. Quite often, a flash of lightning would strike out at some point in the distance. The entire sky would be blindingly white for a brief second, and not long after the bolt, the wind would carry the sounds of cracks and rumbles erupting from the lightning strikes. You couldn't help but love the passion that the thunderstorm brought with it. Everything just seemed so little in comparison to the storm. Even the biggest of your problems always seemed to be quelled by storms. You wished to stay in the storm forever, but you were steadily becoming more and more soaked by the mist that filled the air around you. It was the same type of mist that could be felt at the bottom of a large waterfall, only this mist came from the intensity in which the rain struck the earth with. You almost ignored this soaked feeling until the wind began to blow harder, and brought with it a very cold breeze. You shivered, feeling chilled to the bone, and decided it was time to head back inside. 

You fought against the wind to reclose the door behind you and locked it once you had won. Laying your soggy blanket over the counter to dry, you returned to your almost whistling tea kettle and pour it into the mug before dipping a single tea bag into it. While sipping on the tea, you carefully watched the storm for a few more moments, but eventually have to pull yourself away from the storm once more to warm up on the couch. You flip through channels until you landed on a reairing of a talk show that had gone on earlier that day. In the show, a robotic, android-like monster sat on a yellow couch sipping on a cup of some steaming drink, much like yourself. You honestly hated the fact that you had to avoid monsters. They all seemed so interesting, not to mention how friendly they always seemed. You just knew it was for the best you didn't talk to them face to face. All it would take is them using magic for whatever reason and bam, your soul would be on display in all its odd glory for them to see. Wincing slightly, you activate your own magic and look down at your chest. There it was. It rested sideways like someone had kicked it over, and it glowed a bright white, surrounded by a lush green outline. You let out a sigh and rested your magic allowing it to slowly dissipate from you, and slowly the soul that rested on you became fuzzy until it was completely out of view. Taking another glance at the television, you noticed the monster had put down his drink, and he was now dramatically standing and monologuing. You grabbed the remote and turned up the volume, interested by what he might be talking so fervently about. 

"You see, just last week one of my friends told me how she was refused service at this trashy little diner just because she was a monster! I don't wish to say the name of it because as they say, all press is good press, but the point still stands. There are many other, worse examples I can think of, but for the sake of the people that it happened to, I don't wish to speak of these examples. We've been on the surface for over a year now and there is still rampant racism against our kind!" He paused his speech with a dramatic flop onto the couch and rested his hand on his forehead as if the speech had taken everything out of him, before continuing in a more somber tone. "We knew it would be hard to integrate. We knew it would take a long time, and it wouldn't just happen overnight. It's just... Life can get hard when it feels like everyone is against you, when nobody will hire you, when people are actively protesting your mere existence. It saddens me whenever a talk show invites me to talk about it because it's yet another reminder of how active racism against monsters is. I just wish it would end, you know?" He finally finished his monologue, and the camera panned over to the hosts of the talk show who looked absolutely stunned by the robot's speech.

"Yes, Mr. Mettaton. It is a very sad thing for this still to be ongoing." One of them finally speaks up in a subdued voice. "We're almost out of time. Is there anything else you wish to say before we wrap up?" The robot nodded before staring straight into the camera with a serious, yet somehow compassionate glare. You shift uncomfortably in your seat, feeling as though he's staring directly at you. For all the overdone drama, this guy sure knew how to captivate his audience.

"I wish to remind all other monsters out there that the minority simply speaks louder than the majority. While there are many instances that even I have faced racism, that doesn't mean every human out there is on an active mission to make you outcasts. I've found that most humans are truly very compassionate and understanding, their voices are just drowned out when other humans that are more aggressive shout over them. So I'd like all my fellow monsters out there to remember, stay strong, stay hopeful, stay determined, and we will eventually end these dark times." He finished the speech with a well-known slogan that was used often in speeches about monster racism. Immediately after that, abrupt cheers and clapping were heard from the audience of people that had come to watch the talk show live, and while the cheering continued loud, the show cut to commercial breaks. You felt like someone was pinching your soul, convicting you to do something about the topic Mettaton had spoken so passionately about, but at the same time, you knew you couldn't. This fact hurt you even more than you could comprehend. You hated how you were part of the group of people that actively avoided monsters and never tried to help them. You always told yourself that your reason was legitimate, but it didn't change the fact that you did what you did. You calmed your aching heart by telling yourself that at least you didn't actively try to hurt them, emotionally or physically, but it still left a sour taste in your mouth. 

You physically shook your head trying to get the topic off your mind and placed your half-drunk tea onto the nearby coffee table. Quickly pacing to the door, you opened it and stepped by outside allowing yourself to feel consumed in the storm again. At this point, the storm had somewhat calmed. You could see the break of the storm on the horizon, where the sun was also beginning to peak over the ground. Lightning only struck rarely at this point, but it was still somewhat comforting to you. You got the distinct feeling of being watched, which you chalked up to paranoia, but upon glancing around, you found yourself staring into the black, pit-like eyes of a skeleton that were both dotted with single, white disk-like spheres. He seemed around 3 or 4 inches taller than you, as most monsters were very large when compared to humans. You felt your skin crawl as every instinct told you that you needed to go back inside before he got the chance to see you soul, and you instinctively gripped your hands together blocking where your soul would be. He wore a warm looking, blue jacket, black gym shorts, and pink slippers, and he had an odd smile plastered across his face. If you weren't so scared he'd discover your soul, you could've laughed at how comically he was dressed. After what felt like an eternity of silence, he finally spoke up in a deep, smooth voice.

"so you're the person who just moved in, huh? me and my bro were meaning to go say hi, but we had some guests over. nice to meet you though, the name's sans."


	3. Meeting the Neighbors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You become quite traumatized while meeting the skeletons that live in the room beside yours.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wooh, I'm updating this pretty often. I probably won't be able to keep this update speed up for long, but I'll do as much as I can. Thanks for reading as always!

The skeleton you now knew as Sans glanced over you for a moment before offering his hand to you. You stared it over trying to decipher what he was doing, but an anxious fog rolled over your mind causing you to completely freeze up. Clenching your hands over where your soul would be, you weren't too fond of the idea of moving them to shake his hand. He seemed to read this and cleared his throat awkwardly before lowering his hand back down.

"you humans do shake hands, don't you?" he asked in a mixture of confusion and curiosity. You knew that even with your hands covering it, if he tried to look at your soul, he'd definitely be able to see it. Covering your soul just gave your subconscious mind some rest. He gave you one more curious glance, before turning back and looking into the rain. "tibia honest, i wasn't trying to hurt you or nothing. i was just trying to introduce myself." His voice changed to a hurt tone, and he let out an exasperated sigh. You really hated this. It felt like someone was twisting a knife in your heart, and you wanted nothing more than to talk. Despite this, your anxiety and paranoia of being discovered overrode your want to be friendly, and you could do nothing more than stand there in shock. "good conversation..." He commented towards the sky before turning around to head back inside. You couldn't stand this. You couldn't stand being such a prick to him. The fact that you were being this way hurt you more than you could show. Out of all monsters, why'd it have to be a skeleton you first ran into? In the back of your mind, a few fond childhood memories began to build up from seeing the skeleton, but you quickly suppressed them in fear of getting emotional. Before you knew what happened, a timid introduction slipped through your lips, no matter how much you wished it hadn't.

"Calibri..." You spoke out very softly, and he immediately turned around to face you once more.

"come again?" His white, disk-shaped pupils searched over you as he tried to figure out what you said.

"My name... It's Calibri." You mentally facepalmed at your weak constitution. If you would've just let him walk inside, this encounter would be over. He'd probably never want to speak to you again, which was honestly a plus considering how awkward you felt, and you'd never have to worry about him seeing your soul. But no, you just had to give in. "It's nice to meet you?" You questioned more than stated, and he seemed to perk up at this.

"you don't have to introduce yourself like it's a question." He retorted with a sly smile.

"I'm sorry. I just wasn't expecting..." You broke off your sentence as soon as you realized how racist it was going to sound. He seemed to understand where it was leading and decided to finish your sentence for you.

"...such a stunningly handsome stud to be out here?" His saucer like pupils grew large at this, and the smile that was plastered on his face grew wide. 

"Not what I was gonna say, but sure." You nodded with a very quiet giggle. At this point, your arm felt the urge to raise in order to redo the handshake he had tried to initiate earlier. It took almost everything out of you to tear your hands away from their defensive position on your chest. "Despite what it might seem, I actually do know how to shake hands." You spoke with a little more confidence, but your voice was still mildly apprehensive. He reached out his own hand and grasped onto yours. You felt your own body instinctively flinch when he grabbed it, but you forced yourself to stay calm. His eyes narrowed to nothing more than pinpricks when you flinched, and he quickly ended the handshake.

"well it was nice to meet you neighbor, but i should probably get back to my brother before he gets mad about me letting breakfast get cold." Just like that, he finished the conversation and stepped back into his apartment. You immediately felt your body deflate. Every tense muscle relaxed, and you could feel the small tremors of anxiety that your hands had been experiencing end. By now, you wanted nothing more than to collapse onto your bed into a pile of embarrassed mush, and that was exactly what you did.

You laid on your bed with horrible thoughts running through your head. Your mind ran through all possible bad scenarios that could happen with future encounters with your neighbors, and it was not doing good on your mental state. Eventually, your mind flipped back to 10 years ago, when you were 17. You just didn't want what occurred then to happen again. Long story short, somebody found out about your genealogy, and it did not end well. It did not end well at all. You had to force your thoughts to deter from this unfortunate happening because thinking about it threatened to cause a breakdown. You had to find some way to distract yourself. Anything at all that wasn't causing you to think back on what happened would be good enough. Your eyes searched your bedroom for anything to do, and they eventually landed on the small bookshelf that you and Thomas had set up yesterday. 

A book, of course. You could just read a book. You half sprinted half stumbled over to it and collapsed in front of it onto your knees. Your hands selected a book at random, and you immediately leaned against the wall and began to read through it. After letting some time pass, your shoulders didn't feel quite as heavy as before, and breathing became easy once more. You stood up from your spot against the wall and ventured feebly out of your bedroom. The room filled with the sound of your stomach growling angrily which reminded you, you had yet to buy any groceries. Taking a moment to work up the nerve to venture outside again, you eventually forced yourself out the door and were on your way to get food for your new apartment. 

After thirty minutes of trying to find a suitable store, you eventually settled on one that was about an 8-minute walk from your room and went in to get groceries. It took around an hour of deciding, but you eventually were able to leave with a decent number of groceries that were guaranteed to keep you fed for at least a week. On your way back, you felt as though somebody was following you. Your step quickened and within 5 minutes it felt as though you had lost them, but you still felt a bit shaken from a mixture of worry and the events that transpired earlier. It didn't take to much longer after that for you to reach your apartment building. You began to think you were home free, but as you stepped into the entrance door, a familiar voice yelled out behind you.

"OH HELLO HUMAN! DO YOU LIVE HERE AS WELL? I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU AROUND." A shiver fell down your spine as you realized where you recognized this voice from. It was the loud voice that almost kept you up last night. You turned around, and to nobody's surprise, a tall skeleton stood before you. 

"Uhh... I just moved in." Your eyes fell to the ground, seemingly finding the cement to look much more interesting than the towering skeleton that was approaching you.

"AHH! REALLY?! ARE YOU BY CHANCE IN ROOM 3J?!" He spoke more enthusiastically than you ever thought possible. You nodded and looked up slightly, finally allowing your eyes to get a good look at him. Unlike his brother, his eye sockets were just pits of black shadows with no creepy white pupils to watch you. He wore a tattered red scarf, and very stiff looking, white armor. The armor ended abruptly early on him, similar to a crop top, leaving his spinal column out in the open for all to see. On his legs, he wore blue booty shorts and tall red boots. Man, these skeletons had quite the fashion sense. 

"THAT'S GREAT! MY BROTHER AND I WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT YOU THIS MORNING! I SWEAR WE INTENDED TO STOP BY AND GIVE YOU A PROPER GREETING, BUT FOR SOME REASON SANS WAS VERY AGAINST IT." You had a few guesses on why Sans might've been against talking to you again, and they all revolved around your encounter with him that morning. You internally cringed at how horrible you had been.

"That's okay. I've already met Sans, and I'm meeting you right now. That's enough of an introduction, right?" You tried to phrase your question so it didn't sound like you were deliberately avoiding further conversations with them, but as soon as you spoke, the skeleton let out an even louder shriek.

"AHH! NO! UNDYNE WAS JUST TEACHING ME ON HOW TO BE A GOOD NEIGHBOR, AND FORMAL GREETINGS ARE ABSOLUTELY VITAL FOR FIRST INTRODUCTIONS!" So close, you were so close to getting out of it, but apparently, this Undyne person was against you having a peaceful night. The skeleton was not nearly as perceptive as his brother and took no notice of your discomfort in talking to him.

"No." You responded curtly but immediately felt horrible for your rudeness. "I mean, I'm just really busy tonight... I've gotta put up these groceries, and then finish unpacking. I don't really have time for anything else." That was a blatant lie, and you knew it. The only unpacking left would take no more than 30 minutes tops, and putting away the groceries shouldn't take more than 10. 

"OH! DON'T FRET SMALL HUMAN! I DO NOT WISH TO BE OF TROUBLE. I WILL BE SURE WE COME OVER SOME NIGHT WHERE YOU ARE LESS BUSY." He seemed to be quite gullible, and bought the lies you sold without a single doubt. He gave you a small pat on the head and looked down at your arms full of groceries. "LET ME HELP YOU WITH THOSE. IT IS ALSO VITAL THAT A GOOD NEIGHBOR IS HELPFUL WHENEVER POSSIBLE!" He declared, and before you could decline, he was scooping up the heavy groceries like the bags were full of feathers. 

As you both walked back you to your rooms, silence rang in the air awkwardly, but the skeleton didn't seem to notice. Quickly trying to get back within your apartment, you fumbled with your keys, almost dropping them, but eventually got the door unlocked and opened. The skeleton gently set the groceries beside the door and waved you farewell before walking back into his own apartment. You rushed getting all the groceries inside not wanting to risk running into another monster. Once they were all in, you slumped against the wall and gave an annoyed sigh.

"That's enough skeletons for one day." You commented to no one except for yourself and made quick work of unloading your groceries. After finishing, you decided it was about time for lunch. Using your newly acquired groceries, you made one of your signature gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches. As you finished it off by cutting it into fourths, an amusing pun popped into your head. "Bone Appétit." You said giggling and placed it on a paper plate.

The rest of your day was rather uneventful with only the occasional yells from the loud skeleton next door to break the mundane. Eventually, night fell and you retired to bed early deciding that you were quite tired after the events from earlier that day. The second you dove under your covers your eyes fell shut, and you drifted off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The awkwardness of the reader is very similar to my own during social situations. Also, now my posts will begin to be more on a weekly basis because I really need to calm down with all the writing. Ahh, I just love writing this.


	4. Formal Introductions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Papyrus formally introduces himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh! This took so long for me to post. I've literally had this already written up for around something like 3 weeks, I just got so busy with school that I forgot to post it. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter!

"Daddy! Wait up! I wanna come with you today!" You called out in a high-pitched, childish voice towards a towering figure that wore a tan turtleneck sweater and baggy blue jeans. As you ran after him, your eyes tried to take in the details of a forest that was now surrounding you, but everything remained mostly a blur. It was as if your mind knew that detail should be there but couldn't quite construct it, which resulted in the autumn colored mist that now surrounded you. Now that you looked at it, everything but the person in front of you seemed to blur into one strange mirage of foliage. The figure paused as he caught wind of your voice and halted to a stop. 

"Sweetie, I've told you many times, the forest in this area is dangerous. It's filled with magic run-off from the barrier. It dangerous for even me to be in that area, so why do you think it's safe for you?" His voice was low, scratchy, and filled with annoyed concern. You puffed your cheeks out in anger, his annoyance only fueling your want to join him. As you neared, the figure slowly turned to face you. You halted in your tracks and studied his face intensely. He very literally had skeletal features. His eyes were nothing more than sunken in pits of shadows, and his face was white with porcelain-like texture. However, your eyes mostly skimmed over these skeletal parts, and instead searched for any weakness that might let way to him allowing you to come with him. They found none, but you still were determined to join him.

"Please?! I'll be okay! If I get caught in the magic, then I just won't come with you anymore, but you've never even let me try to walk around the Forgetting Place!" The second that the name of the area slipped out of your lips, you knew you had made a mistake. That was a name you were not supposed to know. He looked at you with narrowed eyes and knelt down in front of you with a stern look. 

"Who told you that name?!" He questioned. You immediately held your lips together not wanting to allow another piece of information that could get you, or the friends that told you about it, in trouble. He seemed to read this quickly and decided to move on. "No matter, what's done is done, but I strongly hope that you are not going around asking and telling everyone about it. You know its not something that we're very proud of... But nonetheless, its necessary to keeping us hidden. Romanticizing the events of that...area... is not the actions of a wise man." You squirmed uncomfortably in his glare and looked towards the ground to avoid his peering eyes.

"I just... I just wanted to know about it. You and momma never want to talk to me about why I'm not allowed in that part of the forest, or what it even is! It's not my fault you don't care enough to tell me!" You yelled back in a heated voice. While you spoke, you could see a tinge of pity cross his eyes.

"It's not that we don't care to tell you... It's just that we worry you're not old enough to be told yet. If you're going to run around asking everyone in town what it is, I suppose it is best I tell you what it truly is." He paused for a moment and gave you a troubled glance as he searched for the right words. "...That part of the forest is filled with excess magic that runs off the Barrier. It has similar properties to the Barrier, but it's much more mental than physical due how it's spread out, instead of concentrated as the Barrier is." He paused noticing confusion fill your expression. "I'm talking about the Barrier that keeps the other monsters trapped underground, Cali. Anyway, whenever somebody walks too far into that area, they just simply forget. They forget almost everything. They don't remember how to run, what they were doing there, or how to even call for help. So they'll just simply be trapped there in a vegetable like state. People have died out there. When you forget how to walk, talk, or even move, you'll find it's very hard to call out for help. It's too risky for anybody to go in there to try to find them, and so, they are just forgotten." He spoke remorsefully as if some past regret was bothering him, but his mood quickly passed. "It's dangerous for both humans and monsters, but it's also very necessary to us staying hidden. Only a select few are able to safely traverse those grounds, your mother being one. For all-"

 

BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...

Your eyes flew opened unexpectedly and met a pitch black room with only the red lettering of your alarm to light it. You reached over and slapped the top of your alarm in order to silence it, and spent a moment staring at the ceiling. You hadn't had that dream since you were a teenager, and you were not the least bit happy about it returning to you. Every so often when you were younger, you would have that dream, and it would always be followed by a series of nightmares. Though, calling them dreams and nightmares weren't too accurate. They were much more like memories that your brain had never been able to fully comprehend, and so, they would reoccur to you in dreams as a way to reevaluate them. At least, that was the theory you thought up. You gave out a stressed sigh, strongly hoping that was the extent of the dream, and it wouldn't try to continue the next night as it often did in your childhood. Normally, you didn't really know the cause of those dreams or why they would reoccur to you, but this time you had a pretty good guess: Those skeletons. Seeing them must've triggered your memory and the dream. This gave you yet another reason to avoid them, which was something you already had an excess of. In the back of your mind, you hoped that if you didn't see the skeletons again, maybe the dream would end there and not continue to the more nightmarish parts. At the same time, you felt conflicted because of this. They were such nice people, and you knew you wouldn't have the determination to keep avoiding them for much longer. You knew it wouldn't be long until your weak constitution gave in, and you tried to befriend them or some other action that was typical of your behavior. Everything about your life seemed stressful at the moment. You took a deep breath in, and decided to verbally remind yourself: "Nothing lasts forever." This was the phrase that your mother had repeated to you as a child whenever you would stress over something. You always had tended to be a worrywort about most things, and this phrase had a way to calm you down. Because, you knew that no matter how stressful things seemed at the moment, you'd get through it. You'd still come out of it being more or less you.

A few days went by, and you were finally starting to settle into your new work routine. You thankfully didn't have any more dreams in those days, and you were guessing that avoiding seeing your skeletal neighbors attributed to that. You worked 12 hours a day, three days a week, which was actually a rather common schedule for nurses that worked directly in large hospitals like you did. This allowed you to already be on your unofficial weekend break by Thursday. Not many nurses liked to do their 12-hour shifts back to back as you did, but you'd rather have a long weekend break opposed to spacing your work days out. It was now Friday, and you thought that... No, you hoped that Papyrus had forgotten about his promise of a formal introduction, but as you were relaxing on your couch watching tv, a familiar loud voice from your door told you otherwise.

"HELLO SHORT NEIGHBOR! IT IS I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS!" He announced formally before continuing in a more casual tone. "I WISH TO GREET YOU FORMALLY, AS PROMISED." You jumped at the sudden shouting, not expecting him to ever actually show up.

"hey uhh paps, i think you're supposed to knock before you announce yourself." Another voice spoke out, which you immediately identified to be Sans.

"OH YES BROTHER, WHERE ARE MY MANNERS?" After this, a booming knock resonated through the door, and you could've sworn you heard the door crack slightly from the well-meant attack against it. You sat frozen for a moment unsure of how to respond. Looking down at your baggy sweatpants and sweatshirt, you realized how trashy you must be looking. You hadn't taken a shower since Wednesday, which wasn't horrible, but it probably meant your hair looked similar to an oil slick.

"J-Just a second!" You called out while sprinting into your bathroom. You quickly took a brush and ran it through your hair. This seemed to help you look a little less trashy. Staring into the mirror, you took a quick breath to calm yourself. "Okay... Just stay calm..." With that word of advice, you walked to the door gripping the end of your oversized sleeves tightly in anxiety. You gingerly cracked the door open and stared at the two skeletons with wide eyes. Papyrus held a container full of spaghetti within his hands and cleared his throat dramatically before he began to speak.

"HUMAN, IT IS NICE TO SEE YOU." He spoke in a scripted manner as if he had been preparing this speech for hours. "AS PROMISED, MY BROTHER AND I HAVE COME TO FORMALLY GREET YOU! I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT IT IS POLITE TO GIVE NEW NEIGHBORS FOOD AND PRESENTS AS HOUSE WARMING GIFTS SO, I HAVE PREPARED MY WORLD FAMOUS SPAGHETTI!" He held out his 'World Famous Spaghetti' waiting for you to take it.

"Uhh, thanks Papyrus." You responded quietly. You grabbed the container hoping that if you accepted it quickly, then the encounter with the two skeletons would end. Looking over it, you noticed a label on the lid of the container. It read: "PAPYRUS' WORLD FAMOUS SPAGHETTI...Note: not yet world famous." You felt a small laugh escape your throat at the comical nature of Papyrus. He seemed to notice and looked at you with narrowed eyes. "IS SOMETHING FUNNY, HUMAN?" With anybody else, that wording would've sounded like a threat, but coming from Papyrus, it sounded like innocent questioning from a puppy. When you looked back at the skeletons, you did, however, notice that Sans was studying your every movement as if he was just waiting for you to do something bad. This sent a shiver down your spine, and you felt prompted to answer back quickly.

"No. I was just thinking this was very nice. Thank you, Papyrus." You answered back quietly hoping your answer was up to Sans' standards. Papyrus seemed to absolutely melt at your praise. He held his mitted hands to his cheeks and blushed brightly.

"NYE HEH HEH! IT IS MERELY A FORMALITY, HUMAN! DON'T THINK TOO MUCH OF IT!" His wording sounded modest, but the tone of his voice made you think otherwise. He was simply basking on your praise. You glanced back at Sans, and he seemed to have let down his guard slightly now that Papyrus was happy.

"Well, it was still very nice." You spoke more quietly this time. Your mind made quick work to remind you that it was dangerous being near them, and it was beginning to cause your anxiety levels to rise. These skeletons, Papyrus in specific, were making it so hard to act rude so that you could properly avoid them. You weren't sure how much longer you'd be able to keep up the act. All you knew was that you needed to get them to leave before your kinder side gave in. Your face must've shown your inner conflict because Sans finally spoke up. 

"paps, i think we should go. she probably has plans or somethin'." He said watching your face as close as he would've watched a ticking time bomb. Papyrus said nothing to this, but you were tending to agree with Sans.

"Uhh, thanks... Bye..." You said curtly before closing the door. Upon closing the door, you slumped against it filling with regret. Why did Papyrus have to be so outrageously nice? As you leaned against the door, you could hear Papyrus speak in a whisper, which until now, you thought he was incapable of.

"Sans... Did I do something wrong?" His voice was much quieter than you could've thought possible, and he seemed to understand you had been acting weird.

"nah, paps. told you most humans just aren't used to talking tuh monsters. she just musta been overwhelmed by your greatness." Sans spoke sweetly, and you were beginning to realize just how much he cared for his brother. No wonder he had been staring you down the entire time. He probably thought you were going to cuss them out at any second, as many humans tended to do with prying monsters. Once he finished speaking, you heard a soft "nye" come from Papyrus.

"I AM GREAT AREN'T I?" He said in an enthusiastic tone.

"bone-afidely amazing." Sans responded, and you could hear an annoyed grimace come from Papyrus due to the pun. After that, you heard the brothers return into their own apartment signaled by the clicking shut of their door. You stared down at the spaghetti Papyrus had gifted you feeling like the scum of the earth for being mean to such a nice guy. If nothing else, you were gonna eat all of this spaghetti. You owed at least that to Papyrus, but you failed to realize the extremity of the task you had just set for yourself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Get ready for a more sansational point of view next chapter. Also, I was thinking about it, and a lot of the monsterxothermonster relationships won't come in for a while, so should I take off the tags? I'm not really sure of the etiquette for tags, so help on this would be appreciated!


	5. One Sansational Perspective

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now you get to see what Sans' first impression of you was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, hope you enjoy the chapter!

It wasn't exactly a beautiful day outside. Rain clouds covered the sky, threatening to engulf the sun completely. Sans wasn't particularly fond of days like this for a multitude of reasons. The largest concern of his was not being able to see the sun and stars. He had been trapped underground for his entire life up until a little over a year ago, and he did not come to the surface just to see rain clouds. Another reason was the sound of lightning that follow whenever it began to rain. When it struck, it gave off a loud crash that sounded awfully close to a cave crashing in, which was not a sound he enjoyed. Even if it wasn't raining yet, he knew it would soon. So, he decided that the best course of action for today was to do absolutely nothing at all. This wasn't much different than what he chose on any other weekend days, but at least he had a legitimate excuse now. 

He flipped tediously through channels on the tv in an attempt to find one that was even half-way entertaining. He had to admit, he had taken Mettaton's shows underground for granted. As annoying as the robot was, his shows were quite entertaining, but nowadays he was far too busy bouncing from talk show to talk show to have any time for making any of his own shows. It wasn't too bad that he was constantly moving around now though because at least that meant the stupid, overly flirtatious monster would stay away from Paps. His channel surfing was interrupted by an excited squeal next door.

"DOES IT HAVE A BALCONY!? THOMAS I THINK IT HAS A BALCONY!" The words were slightly muffled by the walls that separated you from Sans' apartment, but they were loud enough to make out. 

"that can't be right." Sans knew nobody was living next door, so why had he just heard someone? He wanted to get to the bottom of this. He stood up, and lazily teleported to the front desk of the apartment complex, not wanting to bother walking down 3 flights of stairs. "hey, did somebody just move into room 3j?" Sans questioned the pudgy landlord, that spent most of his time sitting at the front desk. 

"Yeah. She seemed nice enough, but if she gives you any problems, tell me. I'll try to work it out." One thing Sans was grateful for about the small apartment was the landlord. The man had never displayed any type of racism towards Sans, and he seemed to go out of his way to lease to monsters, who normally couldn't get a room anywhere else. If the landlord was calling her nice, Sans trusted his judgment and assumed she probably was. At least he wouldn't have to worry about a racist neighbor.

"alright, thanks." With his questions answered, he teleported back up to his room and was quick to take a seat once more. Over the next few hours, he crafted one of his signature sock tornados out of boredom, and he had to admit, this one was quite the masterpiece. Sadly, it was destroyed when Papyrus got back home from grocery shopping and barreled right into it.

"SANS! I TOLD YOU TO CLEAN UP YOUR SOCKS! UNDYNE AND ALPHYS WILL BE OVER AT ANY MOMENT! SURELY NOBODY WANTS TO SEE YOUR SOCK TORNADOES EXCEPT FOR YOU!" Sans shrugged and twirled his finger in the air as the sock tornado slowly came back to life. "i think they'll find my tornado sans-ational." Sans let out a muted laugh at his own pun, while his brother merely grimaced at the pun. 

"JUST CLEAN IT UP! I WILL NOT HAVE UNDYNE THINKING I KEEP AN UNTIDY HOUSE!"

"now it's not the same. it doesn't have the same artistic flow it did before." Sans said downcast. Since his masterpiece had been ruined and the second attempt was nothing in comparison, he figured it was best to put the socks up. Getting them out of sight would let him forget the travesty that was his brother's destruction of the tornado. As quick as he had made the tornado, it poofed out of sight in a mist of blue magic. "oh by the way, did you know we have a new neighbor?" Papyrus seemed to light up with delight from this.

"REALLY?! CAN WE GO MEET THEM? DID YOU ALREADY MEET THEM WITHOUT ME!?" Papyrus seemed to be practically bouncing side to side in the prospect of having a new neighbor.

"nah, just heard 'em next door and asked the landlord about it. he said they're pretty nice, but wait until we can both go to greet them before you decide to introduce yourself." Papyrus seemed to deflate at the prospect of having to wait to meet his new neighbor. "i know, i know." Sans tried to comfort him. "just... remember the last human neighbor we had? i just wanna be there to make sure it doesn't end up like last time." Sans' left eye subconsciously began to glow a faint blue as he recalled the last time Papyrus had gone to meet a new neighbor. Sans hadn't gone with him, and Papyrus had come back with spaghetti all over his face, the same spaghetti that he had made as a gift for the human. Sans practically boiled with rage over that memory. He was ready to give that human a really bad time, but he knew both him and Paps would get in trouble if he threatened a human.

"...FINE I'LL WAIT..." The next hour or so was filled with only quiet sounds from the tv, and the sound of Papyrus mixing and mashing ingredients for dinner. It wasn't too long until an intense knocking at the door signaled Undyne's and Alphys' arrivals. As soon as the knock reverberated through the apartment, Papyrus was rushing to the door with the baking mitts he wore covered in tomato sauce. Papyrus threw open the door eagerly, threatening to lift it off its hinges, and delightedly threw his arms around Undyne in a hug.

"UNDYNE! IT'S SO GREAT TO SEE YOU! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU AND ALPHYS ARE FINALLY BACK FROM YOUR HONEYMOON!" In response, Undyne threw her arms around him and began to violently noogie his head. "PLEASE DO NOT NOOGIE THE SKELETON!" He pleaded while trying to squirm away.

"HEH! YOU BETTER BELIEVE WE'RE BACK, NERD!" She threw her head back in laughter, showing off a row of menacingly sharp teeth. After a minute more of noogying Papyrus, Undyne let go of him, and both her and Alphys entered the apartment. "Sup Sans!" She greeted Sans, who had now migrated closer to the group to greet his guests. 

Sans shrugged his shoulder's and looked up at the ceiling before sarcastically responding, "the roof." He then peered around Undyne and waved a friendly hand at Alphys. "you guys have a good time in california?"

"Y-Yeah! The beaches there were really n-nice!" She stuttered, as was her usual manner, but she seemed overall pretty content.

"so, you could say you and undyne had a whale of a time? You think you'll ever go back to sea it again?" Sans retorted his questions as more of statements, really just wanting others to know the puns he had thought of.

"SANS! STOP TORTURING US WITH YOUR HORRIBLE PUNS!" Papyrus yelled back, but Sans swore he saw a smile creeping onto his brother's face.

"what? i wasn't trying to punish you or anything." Sans' plastered on smile turned genuine from all the puns he was flinging about, but Papyrus simply just stomped his foot before a wide smile crept onto his face.

"WELL, I'D HATE TO PUNTERRUPT YOU, BUT WE SHOULD START EATING BEFORE THE FOOD GETS COLD. NYEHEHE!" Sans' brother wasn't as experienced in pun making, but it never ceased to bring a smile to his face whenever Papyrus attempted to make one. 

"bro, you're awesome."

"NYEHEHE! I KNOW, BUT REALLY LET'S EAT!" The rest of the evening was rather uneventful. It was filled mostly with Undyne and Alphys describing their honeymoon, followed by Sans telling some terribly amazing puns, and Papyrus grunting in response to said puns. At one point, Papyrus mentioned that they had a new neighbor, and Undyne went on to describe proper etiquette on new neighbors. Paps was so interested that he even took notes. It took a few hours before Papyrus could bear to allow them to leave, but they promised they would treat him and Sans to some dinner at their house soon. This seemed to pacify Papyrus. By the time that Undyne and Alphys had left, it was pretty late into the night, and Sans was ready to hit the hay. He fell asleep quickly, but his sleep was soon disturbed by the loud crashing and thunderous noises coming from outside. 

"great... rain..." He grumbled and got up from his bed, knowing he wouldn't be able to sleep through the storm. He trudged downstairs and made a cup of coffee with some hot water and an instant coffee mix. When he reached the kitchen, he found Papyrus standing at the stove working on breakfast. "couldn't sleep either, paps?"

The larger skeleton turned to face Sans and seemed visibly anxious. "ERRR... I JUST WOKE UP EARLY. THAT'S ALL." He was obviously lying. Sans knew when his brother was nervous, and he was sure this storm was the cause of it. He decided not to press his nervous brother any further and went on to make his coffee. While making it, he glanced at the clock that Paps had hung on the wall when they first moved in. 

"even better, up at six-thirty on a saturday." Sans let out a low grumble of annoyance. He flinched as another loud crashed sounded from outside and decided to make his way onto the balcony. Maybe if he could visibly see the storm, it would remind himself that it was only a storm and not some portion of the cave that every monster used to call home crashing in. As he stepped outside, he felt a slight mist from the rain brush across his skeletal face. He leaned against the railing and sipped on his coffee while watching the storm gradually calm down over a span of around thirty minutes. It didn't take long for the scenery to remind his subconscious mind that the lightning was merely a storm, and the tension he felt gradually calmed with the storm. Just as soon as he thought he had calmed himself down, he heard the door connected to his new neighbor's apartment slide open. He watched as you stepped onto the patio, seemingly unaware of his presence. He had to admit to himself, you looked pretty cute, but that didn't stop the guard in his mind to raise in case you turned out to be some flaming racist. After a moment of watching, you finally seemed to notice him, and he decided an introduction was in order. "so you're the person who just moved in, huh? me and my bro were meaning to go say hi, but we had some guests over. nice to meet you though, the name's sans." You seemed to freeze up at the sight of him, fear obviously entering your eyes. Sans held his hand out to you, trying to ease the mood by shaking hands, but you were having none of it. He watched as you moved your hands over where your soul would be if he was using magic to look at it.

 _dang, she looks terrified._ Sans almost felt bad, but not quite. He couldn't help that his appearance was scaring you. He removed his hand and stuffed it back into his pocket. _ugh, too bad for paps. looks like we may have ended up with a racist neighbor again._ Brushing off your apparent disdain for him, Sans tried to continue the conversation in order to lighten the mood. "you humans do shake hands, don't you?" He said it as more of a joke, but his comment seemed to shake you up more, so he gave up and turned back towards the rain. "tibia honest, i wasn't trying to hurt you or nothing. i was just trying to introduce myself." He grimaced saying the sentence. He knew that some humans would try to take monsters to court over harassment for simple things like an introduction, and he did not have the money to deal with you if you took him to court, so he tried to make sure you weren't interpreting his words as a threat. After you still didn't respond, he finally just gave up trying to converse with you. It was like talking to a brick wall. "good conversation..." He said finally before turning to walk away, but right before he stepped inside, he finally heard you squeak out a response. He couldn't tell what you said, but dang did he think your voice sounded cute. He immediately stopped himself. Why was he thinking stuff about you being cute? You obviously had no interest in him, so there was no point in thinking over your looks and voice. "come again?"

"My name... It's Calibri. It's nice to meet you?"

Sans had to keep in a snort over your introduction. Maybe you weren't racist. Maybe, just maybe, you were really timid. You reminded him somewhat of the first time he met Alphys. The reminder that some people just tended to be shy gave him some hope that you might yet be a nice neighbor to have. "you don't have to introduce yourself like it's a question." A sly smile broke across his face. It seems that you finally calmed down some.

"I'm sorry. I just wasn't expecting..." You broke off, and he could guess why. That sentence would probably end sounding racist, but he had worked to get you to finally speak. He wasn't about to let you clam up again because you misspoke. 

"...such a stunningly handsome stud to be out here?" He quickly finished your sentence for you, trying to keep you calm. He could facepalm himself for his response. Was he flirting with you? He couldn't figure out why he just flirted with you, but you seemed to eat up his response.

"Not what I was gonna say, but sure." You let out a timid giggle, and he was ready to melt over how cute it was. 

_god, so she's what alphys is referring to when she calls someone from one of her animes a 'cinnamon roll'._ Sans thought, now understanding why Alphys had an affinity to the characters she gave that name to. 

"Despite what it might seem, I actually do know how to shake hands." You held out your hand, and Sans quickly took it up in his own. It seemed like you had finally calmed down, but right as Sans grasped onto yours, he felt you flinch. 

_nope, she's definitely still scared of me._ Sans began to feel bad for scaring you, even if he couldn't control your feelings towards him, and decided it was best if he left you to calm down. "well it was nice to meet you neighbor, but i should probably get back to my brother before he gets mad about me letting breakfast get cold." He quickly ended the conversation and stepped back inside. His excuse wasn't a complete lie. He was pretty sure that Paps was making breakfast for the both of them, and the last thing he wanted was for Paps to come out there to get him then end up scaring you further. When he finally reached an area that was out of view of the glass door that led to the balcony, his shoulders slumped in both relief and annoyance. "breakfast ready yet paps?" He called out and mentally prepared to eat whatever Papyrus had fixed up for them.


	6. Spaghetti Indirectly Gives You a Mental Breakdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You eat some spaghetti and enjoy the mental breakdown that comes with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is the end of what I'd like to think as more of the prologue of the story. Feel free to leave helpful criticism for both grammar and story writing in general. ~~Cause I could use help in both departments~~ As always, I hope you enjoy!~

There you were. This was not a situation you ever expected to be in. A monster that was reminiscent of a puppy, even though he was massively tall, had given you a container of spaghetti as a welcoming gift to your new apartment, and now you felt like you had no choice but to eat it. You finally tore yourself away from the spot against your door where you had been sitting in self-loathing ever since the skelebros (that's what you decided to call them) had come over. Papyrus was completely oblivious to your discomfort near them, and Sans was much too observant of it. Though after that encounter, you were pretty sure Sans wasn't the only skelebro that thought you were a racist now. Even Paps had picked up on your less than happy attitude. This must've been the third time this week you felt like melting into a pile of racist, self-loathing, embarrassed goo. 

You made your way to the kitchen, spaghetti in hand, and began searching through your cabinets for a plate. You had just unpacked and were still unfamiliar with where you had stored everything, which was causing you to spend more time than you'd like to searching for something as simple as plates. Cabinet after cabinet went by and still, the plates were nowhere to be found. Finally, while searching the last cabinet left in your kitchen, you found the plates tucked away in a small niche of one of the cabinets. Of course, it was the last place you looked. Spending ten minutes looking for a plate pretty much summed up how your day was going. You grumbled and pulled one of the paper plates out of the stack before plopping it onto the counter. Opening the container of spaghetti, your nose was greeted with a pleasant scent. Maybe this was just what you needed to turn this day around. A nice smelling meal cooked by a well-meaning skeleton. You grabbed a fork from a drawer, notably not having to search ten minutes for it, and scooped up the spaghetti, dumping it onto the paper plate after. It tumbled down as one gelatinous, congealed glob. You shivered internally at the sight of it spilling onto the plate. "Maybe it's just gone cold? I mean, it did smell good..." You whispered to yourself hopefully. You closed the container and placed it into your sink, making a mental note to clean and return it. You picked up the plate, and shifted the glob of spaghetti to and fro across the plate watching intently as it slid along the plate similar to a slug. Something told you that you were about to have a bad time eating this. You gingerly placed it into the microwave and set the cook time to one minute. Now you just had to sit back and wait.

You pulled your phone from your pocket and began to scour through the multitude of notifications that often built up on your phone. Often times, you would either be too lazy or would just forget to check it while it was on silent, causing every notification from several days past to build up until it could take upwards to thirty minutes to check it all. You began to scour through the many notifications when you realized about half of them came from your mother. Whether they were multiple calls that ranged from two days ago to two minutes ago or text messages that frantically asked if you were okay, your mother had definitely taken a large hit on your data plans. "Shoot! I was supposed to call her when I moved in. Gooooooodddd! She's gonna be so pissed!" You ignored the chiming of the microwave and quickly pressed the call button that was joined with her contact information. You prepared yourself for the onslaught of worried nagging that you were about to receive. 

BRRRIIINNNNGGG...

BRRRIIINNNNGGG...

BRRRIIINNNNGGG...

"CALI!?" Your ears practically convulsed at the loud screaming the resounded from the phone pressed to your right ear. 

"H-hey, mom?" You stuttered.

"WHY HAVEN'T YOU BEEN ANSWERING ME?! I WAS SO WORRIED! I WAS ABOUT TO DRIVE UP THERE MYSELF! I KNOW YOU GO OFFLINE PRETTY OFTEN, BUT TO IGNORE YOUR OWN MOTHER?! I REALLY THINK THAT YOU SHOULD CHECK YOUR PHONE MORE OFTEN! WHAT DO YOU THINK WILL HAPPEN WHEN YOU REALLY DO GET IN TROUBLE, AND NOBODY GOES TO CHECK ON YOU BECAUSE THEY ALL FIGURE 'HUH, SHE'S JUST OFFLINE LIKE NORMAL! HEH SILLY CALI!..." She continued on her rampage, and at this point, you had mentally checked out. You could pretty much guess what she was saying anyway. While she continued to nag you, you grabbed your spaghetti out with one hand and sat down at the bar chair that rested next to your counter. You placed the plate onto it, and tentatively took a bite of the spaghetti. 

"SSSSSSFFFFFFFFT" You uncontrollably spit out the spaghetti. You literally had no control of your action. Your body just reacted to it as if it was something that was never meant to be eaten. At the sound of you spitting it out, the phone went silent for a moment before your mom finally spoke up again.

"What was that sound?" Her voice rang with concern and confusion.

"Uhh, just my tv. One of the people on it just did a spit-take." You weren't really sure how to explain the circumstances of the spaghetti at the moment and were less sure that your mom would sanely take the news that two skeletons were living next door to you. She seemed to accept this excuse rather easily and went on to nag some more. While she finished up her drawn out speech of the importance of communication, you took another bite of the spaghetti and forced it down your throat. You stomach gave an uncertain growl as you finished swallowing it. The line went silent once more, and you figured your mom had finally worn herself down. You were about to ask about her week, when you heard loud sniffling through the phone. "Mom, you crying?" You asked crestfallen. Your mom had always been rather emotionally unstable ever since you left dad, but you couldn't stand that you were the reason for her current troubles. "Mom, I'm sorry. Please don't cry." There were a few more telltale sniffles on the other side before she finally spoke back up.

"I-I'm okay. I was just really worried is all." Ugh, you had managed to upset just about everyone you had come in contact lately. Could that be considered a gift? Some people could sing, some could dance, and you could make everyone around you disappointed. If this was the universes way of getting back at you for being a jerk to Papyrus, it sure was working. 

"I know. I'm sorry. I won't do it again." After that, the sniffling seemed to die down, which brought you great relief. "How's your week been? Err, other than me being a jerk to you." You quickly tried to change the subject in order to help calm her down. Ever since you and your mother had been on your own, your mother had been quite dependant on you emotionally, which was an uncommon dynamic for a mother and child. She turned emotionally unstable ever since... Dad... And, you were the only thing to give her solace. So, you had naturally become very good at comforting her. You knew when to pry, and you knew when to change subjects when it pertained to her troubles in life. It all just came naturally. You chalked that up to the green coloring that outlined your crooked soul. It was supposed to mean your greatest strength was kindness, but you often felt like the color of the outline of your soul was a mistake. It often felt a more fitting color would be something more sinister, but alas, nobody could choose their soul color. At least comforting people seemed to come easy with a somewhat green soul.

"W-Well... I'm going on a date tomorrow with this nice man from work." She commented meekly, obviously still distraught.

"Mom! That's great! Is it the same one who stayed late with you when you had lots of extra work to finish and no one else from the office was willing to help?" Man did you hope it was the same one. He dropped her off after staying late with her, claiming he was worried about her walking home alone so late at night. He seemed like a real gentleman.

"Yeah! That one." You could practically hear the blush on her cheeks over the phone if that was even possible. 

"That's great mom!" You responded pleased. She seemed to have finally calmed down.

"So, what about you. How was your week?" You froze up as she asked the question. You surely couldn't tell her about your new skeletal neighbors. She would absolutely lose it. You wanted anything but that.

"It's been great!" The lies slipped out easily. You lied to her often about things like that. She already had enough going on emotionally, and you didn't know if she could handle the burden of your feelings too. She seemed content with that answer.

"Well, I love how descriptive you always are, and I wish I could hear more, but I'm very tired from work. I think I'm going to head to bed now. Take care, and call me again soon. Okay?" She asked weakly. You knew that all the worrying about you had probably taken its toll on her, and you definitely wanted for her to rest.

"K. Will do." After answering, a solid beep confirmed that she had hung up, and you placed your phone onto the counter giving it a defeated look. You leaned against the counter and massaged your own temples in an attempt to calm down. After a moment with yourself, you peered down at the spaghetti trying to decide what to do. "Hmmmm...." You groaned undecidedly. "God, Paps probably work so hard on this knowing him. He only seems to know how to give his full effort. Who am I to turn it down. Maybe this is my punishment for managing to upset everyone around me." You gave out a self-deprecating laugh and fork in hand, tried to take another bite of the spaghetti. Your stomach growled angrily in response. Even your own body was getting mad at you. This whole situation felt comical in a sense. You spent the next thirty minutes shoving a plate of spaghetti down your throat. 

"Uggghhh... That was so bad..." You groaned in disgust and pushed the plate away; out of sight, out of mind. Taking a glance at the sink, you decided to go ahead and wash the container that had once held the grotesque spaghetti in it. It took a few minutes of furious scrubbing, but after a long battle with the bits of sauce that had already crusted hard onto the platter, you finally managed to scrub it clean. After drying it, you made a firm decision to never it spaghetti again. Created by Papyrus or not, just the thought of it made you repulse. 

You grabbed a sticky note off the pack of them that was kept onto your fridge by magnets and stuck it to the top of the clean container. You ventured to your coffee table and grabbed a pen that you had left on it before returning back to the sticky note. "Thanks for the spaghetti! It was delish!" You jotted down onto it. You grimaced looking at the font. Everyone always complimented you on your penmanship, but it was purely robotic looking to you. It just had no character to it. It looked exactly the same as the actual Calibri font, which was expected because of the lineage on your father's side, but nonetheless frustrating. You would almost prefer having bad handwriting than the boring font that yours was. You shrugged it off and picked up the container. Making your way to the door, you mentally prepared yourself. "Just gonna put it down, knock, and run like hell. Then I'll pray I get out of there before one of them answers the door." You devised your plan out loud, before stepping outside your apartment to follow through with it. Just like planned, you placed the clean container down, knocked once, and ran back into your apartment accidentally slamming the door behind you. You pressed against the door to listen to the other side, and let out the breath that you were unaware you were holding now that you were safely inside.

"JUST A MINUTE!" A cold shiver ran from your head to toe as Papyrus unexpectedly yelled out from his apartment. You waited a moment, then heard the door next to your own be slung open. "HELLO?" It took a moment, but a curious, "HMMM" seemed to signal that he found the container on the floor. 

"whatcha got there bro?" It was barely audible through the door, but you could definitely make out Sans' words.

"IT SEEMS THAT OUR NEIGHBOR APPRECIATED MY SPAGHETTI! I KNEW SHE HAD GOOD TASTE. I COULD FEEL IT IN MY SOUL!" Papyrus announced seemingly happy. You almost let out a giggle from the skeleton's enthusiasm but were careful not to in fear they'd hear you. "I SHOULD GO OVER AND THANK THEM FOR SUCH A SPEEDY RETURN OF OUR CONTAINER!" Your eyes flew wide with panic. 

_No, no Paps! That's not necessary!_ You thought panic seeping into your expression.

"uhh, maybe we should just appreciate it by ourselves. i can't really tell which, but our new neighbor is either..." You couldn't make out the next part of sans' words. He obviously lowered his voice in fear that someone else was listening. He wasn't wrong in that suspicion, but still... You wanted to know what he said! It was about you, and you felt you had every right to hear. Your thoughts were quickly cut off by Papyrus.

"I UNDERSTAND WHY YOU SAY THAT, BUT I DON'T THINK SHE'S RACIST. I THINK SHE'S JUST VERY SHY LIKE ALPHYS, AS YOU SAID." Papyrus immediately revealed what Sans must've said, which gave you both strange relief and dread. You knew he thought you were racist. Of course he did. You would've thought you were racist too if you didn't know the circumstances. You felt your body go slightly limp. You knew he would take your actions and words as racist, so why was it such a shock to you that Sans thought of you this way? Why was it hurting you so much to act like this towards them, and have them confirm your suspicions? You weren't even being that mean, just more insincere if anything... How could people stand to be outright rude to people like them? Based on Sans' apprehension of you, they've obviously dealt with actual racists before. You just didn't understand how anyone could act even ruder than you were towards them. It felt like your soul physically hurt just from being so standoffish towards them. The real kick in the gut was how much Papyrus looked like your own father. Sure, his facial structure was completely different, but looking at him from the back, you swore it could've been him. This stuff couldn't be too great on your mental health. Your magic activated out of instinct from the feeling of been so torn. This happened occasionally, but otherwise, you could control it pretty well. It mostly happened when you got too worked up, it would activate of its own doing. You didn't think much of it and took the opportunity to steal a peek at your aching soul. It still looked rather intact, just a bit darker than usual if anything. Your soul obviously wasn't actually splitting apart, but it sure did feel like it. You paused a moment realizing the silence that now engulfed the hall outside your door.

_CRAAAP!_ You'd forgotten that monsters could sense nearby magic energies. A few cuss words ran through your mind in disbelief of how careless you had been. You frantically tried to get your magic to deactivate, but the more you stressed over it, the more unlikely it seemed that it would switch off.

"THAT'S WIERD... HAVE YOU EVER FELT THAT MAGIC ENERGY HERE BEFORE, SANS? IT FEELS VERY CLOSE TOO. SANS, DO WE HAVE MONSTER NEIGHBORS?" 

_No..._

_No..._

_No..._

Surely they could think that the magic came from somewhere more feasible than you, their seemingly human neighbor, right? After you managed to regain your senses, you jumped away from the door and ran into the farthest corner of the kitchen, hopefully out of range of the brothers' magic range. "Just calm down... Just calm down, and your magic will deactivate..." You clutched your hand to your chest and began to force yourself to breathe slowly. You were sure you heard Sans give a muffled response, but you were both too far away and anxious to try to pay attention to what he may have said. You slumped against the corner of the kitchen, and gradually the green glow of magic that shined against your surroundings died out, leading you to believe your magic had finally 'calmed down' in a sense. "Well these mental breakdowns have been great, but it's all good universe! You can chill on the karma thing now. Justice served on Papyrus' half." You whispered to yourself in a melancholy tone. After a few minutes of rationalizing with yourself, you figured it was unlikely they would ever assume the magic source was you. After all, they had no reason to. You were just their normal human neighbor, albeit standoffish. You thought you had finally managed to calm yourself down when you felt you chin begin to drip with tears. "Why am I crying?" You wiped them away only to have many more follow suit. "Seriously? I'm not even the one that has a racist neighbor that can't even stand to talk to me, so why am I the one crying?!" The tears that puddled in your eyes didn't seem to want to negotiate with reason. A small tugging in your soul urged to call your mom, call Thomas, call anyone, but... You didn't want to bother your mom, and anyone else would think you were being silly, because that's what you thought too. And since you called no one, nobody came.

You spent the remainder of the night drifting between the sofa and your bed. Neither place seemed comfortable at the moment, and you had the strong urge to go out on the balcony. Maybe the crisp outside air would soothe you. Part of you nagged that you might end up running into one of your neighbors, but at this point, you were ready to just say screw it all. Before heading out, you glanced at the clock on your phone. _Great 3 AM... That's great... I didn't need any sleep anyway..._ As you took a step onto the balcony, your bare foot hit the cold tiling that lined the floor, sending a shiver up your spine. It was bitterly cold, but you didn't really mind. If nothing else, the numbness that crept up your fingers distracted you from the fact that you couldn't keep the occasional tear from rolling down your face. You gave out a loud huff and sat criss-crossed onto the ground. You stared into the midnight sky. It provided you with hope, with determination. 

God you couldn't stand this feeling. You had never been the type to be outright rude to people. If anything, you had always been sort of a pushover. You were the type that was eager to please. Your resolution to avoid monsters seemed so weak. After all, they were just like humans... If humans could easily find out a detrimental secret about you just by flicking on some magical switch in their soul. It was downright terrifying to you. You had only been stupid enough to reveal your secret to someone that wasn't your family once before, and to say the least, it didn't end well. That experience left you very uneasy with the thought of ever letting the cat out of the bag again. It honestly hurt to be so secretive. Maybe if you weren't, you could already be friends with your new neighbors. All your anxieties over the past few years of being found out seemed to come spilling out at that very moment. The past week or so all just felt like too much. With the combination of moving in, having unexpectedly skeletal neighbors, and almost getting yourself found out, you were left feeling completely drained. To be honest, the few lonely tears that rolled down you cheeks seemed to lessen the tense feeling you carried. It was all very funny in a sense. All this worry, anxiety, stress, it was all over something so small and insignificant that it could only be seen with the aid of magic. So, why did just the mere act of keeping it hidden make you feel so alone? It was then that you decided that this intense loneliness was what it meant to hide a soul.


	7. Chilling on the Balcony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You chill on the balcony and meet goat mom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope everyone enjoys the chapter! Helpful criticism is always welcome, per usual.

You sat on the tiled floor of the balcony staring up into the starry sky as if searching for the answer to your problems. At this point, your tears had mostly dried up, and you admittedly did feel better than you had before you ventured onto the terrace. The occasional shiver that drifted up your spine told you that you should either get a blanket or go inside completely. With how calming the outside sky felt to you, going inside completely didn't seem like a viable option. So, you decided just to run in for a blanket, and maybe a chair. 

Tearing yourself away from the patio, you almost immediately found a large fluffy blanket laying across your couch, but it seemed finding a good chair would be a challenge in itself. You had plenty of chairs to use, you just weren't sure which would be the best. The bar stool didn't have any type of back to support you, and it would be ridiculous to pull the armchair that sat next to your sofa out. Even though it may have been kind of dingy, you decided to pull your fold-out camping chair from its storage place in your closet. It took a few minutes of wiping it down with a paper towel to get all the built-up dirt off, but eventually, it seemed clean enough to sit on. With both your fluffy blanket and chair in hand, you set out to the balcony once more.

Even though it was cold, the outside air seemed much nicer compared to the air inside. It just had a way of clearing your head, giving you a sense of clarity. Cocooning yourself in the blanket you brought out first, you plopped into the fold-out chair and curled up into yourself. This was much preferable over your position on the ground earlier. You actually felt quite warm excluding your face, which honestly didn't seem like a bad thing. Just to think your next door neighbors had been deprived of the view that you had grown so fond of was heartbreaking in a way. You recalled fond memories of your childhood when you would curl up in your father's lap and fall asleep under the stars. The memories all blended together because of how young you were, but it still proved to give you a nice sense of euphoria. Before you knew it, your eyes were closing themselves, and your head began to sag to a resting spot on the chair's arm. Then soon, you had fallen asleep. 

Your mind stayed blank, like a barren wasteland of thoughts. That night, you didn't have any dreams, bad or otherwise. The black space of your own mind seemed to stretch on forever until it gradually grew brighter and brighter. It didn't seem like it was too long before your eyes opened of themselves, met with the bright sting of the morning sun. You weren't quite sure if you were ready to wake yet, though. So, you nuzzled deeper into the blankets that covered you. As your cheek brushed against the blanket, you felt something scrape against it. Your eyes opened cautiously and began to look for what had just touched you. Upon opening, they were met with the sight of two odd things. The first was another blanket that now laid across you, one that was completely unfamiliar to you. The second odd thing was a note that seemed delicately tucked into the blanket. You pulled your hands from their resting place within the blankets and tugged the note free. It took a moment for your sleepy eyes to adjust to the daylight, but as soon as they did, you inspected the note carefully.

"DEAR HUMAN, I NOTICED YOU LOOKED VERY COLD OUT HERE WHEN I WOKE UP THIS MORNING. SO I, BEING THE GREAT PAPYRUS AND EVEN GREATER NEIGHBOR, DECIDED TO GIFT YOU WITH AN EXTRA BLANKET! NYEHEHEH!- THE GREAT PAPYRUS"

A broad smile stretched across your face, and for the first time in a while, the smile felt genuine. Maybe having the skelebros as your next-door neighbors wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. They were much more considerate than any neighbor you'd ever had, they were so intent of being a good neighbor that Papyrus even went to an outside source for advice on it, and to top it all off with a cherry on top, Papyrus had literally given you a blanket because he was worried about you being cold. You'd only known them for less than a week, and they already seemed dead set on being nice to you. It honestly felt like a little too much for your heart to handle. You looked angrily where your soul would've been, and gave your chest a soft hit, similar to a one-handed King Kong. "Why do you have to look so weird," you grumbled. Every bone in your body, no pun intended, ~~pun definitely intended~~ wished to be friends with the monsters next door. You'd never wished more that you were normal.

"Time to stop moping about." You reprimanded yourself trying to change the subject in your mind to a more upbeat one. Today was going to be a better day. You were sure of it. "Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow there'll be sun." You sang lightly to yourself. It didn't take long to fold up the blanket Papyrus had left you, but when you went to return it, it didn't seem anyone was home, so you decided just to hang onto it until you got a good chance to give it back. The rest of that morning was spent watching tv wrapped up in Papyrus' blanket, which you found inexplicably comfortable. It was a pretty enjoyable morning. The show Friends, which had always been a personal favorite, was doing a marathon of the first two seasons, which gave you an excuse to keep being lazy. You had even thought to get coffee when you went to the store earlier that week, so now you had a piping hot cup of joe. Honestly, you couldn't ask for a better morning! Well that was until you went to take a sip of the coffee, and a sudden

TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP

caught you off guard, causing you to almost comically spill it onto yourself, and thankfully not Papyrus' blanket. "Didn't like that shirt anyway." You tried to look on the bright side of the scenario and quickly got up to get something to clean up the mess. As you reached for a paper towel, another odd sound caught you off guard. 

UFF... UFF... UFF...

It seemed someone was breathing quite heavily right outside your door. If you didn't know better, you would've assumed they just ran a marathon. You decided that the mess on your shirt could wait to be cleaned, and became increasingly curious of the loud breathing in the hallway. You padded over to the door and opened it wide in order to get a full view on whatever was going on within the hall. Confusion met your curiosity when all that your eyes met with was a small child. They seemed no older than 10, had bobbed hair, and wore a cute striped shirt. It was odd. You could've sworn you recognized them from somewhere, but nothing came to mind.

"You okay sweetie?" Your nurse instincts kicked in, and you immediately found yourself at the huffing child's side intent on figuring out what they were doing. They nodded up at you between breaths, but you couldn't seem to elicit any actual response. "Do you live here?" To that, they shook their head, but still, no verbal response. "Why are you up here all alone, and where are your parents?" That was it. You just needed to ask a non-yes or no question. Surely that would get an actual response. They finally stopped huffing breathlessly, but only looked up at you curiously. Now that they looked directly at you, you were able to see their face fully. They were admittedly quite a cute child, and now that you got a glimpse of their face, you were pretty sure they were a girl. She didn't seem overly shy about the fact you were talking to them. She just seemed like she didn't want to talk. _Okay... Guess I only get to ask yes or no questions then..._ This was a little irritating, but oh well, not much you could do about their reluctance to talk. "Are you lost?" You finally asked. 

 

This time, you a got an audible, "Mmm-mmm," which you took to mean as no.

"Then why are you up here?" Her lips stretched into a tight smile, as she seemed to remember why she was up here herself. She excitedly pointed to the door of the skelebros apartment and danced around it as if she might explode with excitement. "...Do you know them?" You asked, but whatever nonverbal answer she was about to give was cut off by loud... Bleating? You didn't just hear bleating, did you? Was there a goat in your apartment complex?

"My child! Do not run so fast and leave my sight like that!" Quickly, you were able to figure out what caused the bleating sound when a very large goat woman came running into view. The best you could describe her as was goat mom. It was just somehow the impression you got from her. Once her eyes glanced upon the small child then you, she halted and looked sheepishly at the both of you. "I do hope Frisk was not causing you trouble, was she?" She looked at the child you now knew as Frisk almost accusingly. You felt your chest tighten at the sight of the large monster, but you immediately forced yourself to calm down. 

_Be rational! She can't see your soul unless she uses magic, and she's unlikely to use magic with two humans around._ With that reprimanding thought to yourself, you were able to calm down enough to squeak out a response. "N-No. I was just checking to make sure that she wasn't alone, but I see she isn't so-" You were about to make a quick escape when someone else entering the hall stopped your sentence.

"told ya the kid would be fine, tori. after all, she did wander around the underground alone for like a mo-." The goat woman sent Sans a cold glare as he entered the hall, which shut him up pretty quick.

"Let's not talk about that Sans." Yikes, that look she gave Sans was a good old fashion mom stare if you ever saw one. This goat lady was definitely goat mom. "It seems this nice girl was worried about Frisk and was watching over her." Her gaze drifted over to you with a sweet tenderness to it.

"Th-That's an overstatement. I just found her in the hall and was worried that she'd lost her family or something..." You stated and looked to the ground in embarrassment over the goat mom's kindness. 

"Either way, I'm grateful." She said sincerely.

"eyy neighbor." Sans broke in obviously sensing your embarrassment. "didn't expect to see you here. 'thought it'd just be frisk, all her bonesome." You heard a snort escape Frisk beside you, and couldn't help but smirk at the pun as well. The increasing number of monsters in the hall was beginning to make your nerves shoot up, but Sans' puns seemed to distract you from that. 

"W-Well I'd be lying if I said there was _No Body_ else out here, now wouldn't I?" You felt a bit of confidence enter your voice as you retorted with another pun. No matter how forced the pun may have been, it seemed to catch Sans' attention, and his plastered on smile grew wide, along with his disk-like pupils. 

"mmm, you're right. wouldn't want you telling a fib-ula near the kid. tibia honest, that would make both of us bad role models, wouldn't it?" This time, the snort of laughter came from yourself instead of Frisk, which you immediately felt flustered by. When you looked back up, Sans' face seemed to be lit up with joy, but you were bent on getting out of there before he got the chance to make you snort again with more puns. You also couldn't ignore the rising anxiety in your chest at being in close quarters with both the monsters. Finally, when you heard a loud "Nye" come from the stairwell, you knew it was time to retreat into the safety of your own apartment. 

"Well, looks like Frisk is in good hands! T-Take care!" You spoke rushedly and stepped back inside. Right before you closed the door, you noticed the goat woman give Sans an odd look then gesture towards you with her head, to which he rolled his eyes in response. Some communication seemed to pass through the two, the nature of which you were unsure, but what you were sure of was that a blue blush crept onto Sans face after the gesturing.

_Wonder what that was about?_ You thought curiously, before beginning to pull the door shut completely. Before you had even closed it halfway, Sans was all the sudden right in front of your door. The blue blush that had crept onto his face moments ago was mostly gone, but you could still see the very faint effects of it. You practically felt your heart leap out of your chest in surprise. He hadn't even approached the door. He was just all the sudden there, seemingly out of nowhere. 

He timorously placed his hand onto the door frame, which you guessed was to make sure you didn't slam the door on him before he could finish talking. Your eyes widened slightly in fear as you glanced up to his hand that blocked your door. He followed where your eyes were staring and seemed to just then notice his own hand guarding the doorway, to which he responded by awkwardly moving it back into his pocket.

"wait a sec, would you?" You stood awkwardly looking up to Sans. He had a good three or four inches on your own height, and with him being in such close quarters, it felt much more substantial than that, making you feel slightly overwhelmed. Your hands subconsciously began to fiddle with the cuffs on your sweatshirt as you nervously waited to hear whatever he was wanting you to tell you.

"Yeah?" You questioned tensely trying to move the conversation along.

"well, it's just that we're throwing a birthday party tonight for the little squirt over there." He glanced towards Frisk affectionately. "if it starts getting too loud or anything like that, you can come to find me and i'll try to quiet it down. i just didn't want you getting surprised about a party that you didn't know was going on or anything like that..." He paused, and you could see on his face that he was debating his next words within his own head. "also, not sure if you're a party person, but you're welcome to come over if you'd like. feel free to bring along a friend if you'd like too." When he finished talking, his voice sounded rather confident, but a slight blue blush crept up his cheeks that seemed to betray his cool demeanor. You were unsure of the nature of the blush, but you assumed he was just inviting you to be a friendly neighbor. 

"...Okay, thanks for telling me. I'll think about it." You answered back timidly before shutting the door softly.


	8. The Bet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You make a bet with Thomas.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a reminder since I'm worried people won't remember Thomas, he was the dude who helped us move in during the very first chapter. He wasn't a very significant character then, but I'm trying to introduce the reader to him a bit more.

You leaned uncertainly against your door for the umpteenth time that week and began to ponder the actions that had put you into the all the sticky situations you were now in. Though, all your mind could focus on was the social atrocities that you had committed towards the skelebros... Actually, thinking back on all the awkward grievances you had committed along the span of the week was not fairing well. So, you decided to instead think about your current situation of distress or more specifically, how to solve it. You seemed to almost immediately agree with yourself that it'll be a cold day in hell before you go to that party.

"Great! Plan acquired. Just not gonna go!" You chirped happily and began to strut away from the door in triumph. It felt like for the first time in a long time, you could actually have a choice of whether or not you'll have a run in with one or both of the skelebros which was almost exhilarating in its own weird way. It seemed like a simple plan. You just had to be a complete and utter social hermit, and everything would be okay. "Maybe I should just go get food and hope that when I get back it's over? Its a kid party... It can't start too late or last too long, right?" You reasoned with no one but yourself about the logistics of a kid party hoping that your theory would prove correct. 

Ending the small walk of confidence, you plopped down into the warm embrace of your couch and cuddled back into the thick blanket that Papyrus had loaned to you. You pulled out your phone from its hiding place between the cushions and began to scroll through the many notifications that haunted your home screen. As you did so, a small thought popped into your head. "Hmmmm..." An indicative sigh escaped your lips as you pieced an idea together. 

_I could probably just go get a small meal with Thomas or someone so that I'll have company while I wait for the party to blow over._ Thomas was really the only close friend you had, and you still felt a little bad for forcing him to help you move in because you didn't have any car fit to transport your stuff. Maybe lunch could work as a secondary compensation. With a set plan in mind, you texted Thomas and then watched tv to bide your time while waiting for a reply. It wasn't terribly long before a signaling ding of your phone told you that he had most likely replied. Picking the phone back up, you immediately saw the very shortened reply of "sure" pop up on the home screen. It felt like a small weight fell off you now that you knew you wouldn't have to wait for possible hours alone. You opened the phone and clicked into the messages before typing back a reply to Thomas.

"Ah, Thomas. The man of few words." You sniped back at him. In a moment, the "..." showed up telling you that he was responding, most likely in a short message. Eventually, another ding accompanied a message that popped onto the screen.

"least i dont feel the need for correct grammar while texting ;p" The second you read the response, you were torn between laughing and virtually slapping him through the messages. He knew grammar in texts was a personal pet peeve of yours and liked to make fun of it as often as he could.

"It's okay. Maybe someday you'll learn how to use correct grammar, like me. Hmm, maybe we've figured out the reason your last article was 'not received well', in your own words." Thomas was a journalist, and as much as you adored the guy, you never had really thought of his work as high quality. After sending it, you made quick work of adding in a thinking emoji for extra effect.

"ouch... hitting a man where it hurts i see how it is. ;-; mayb i just wont go. ill just cry at home instead." As soon as you read out the response, your finger went flying through the keyboard to type a response.

"Nooooo! I need an excuse to ditch a party I got invited to! Don't leave me in the dust like this Thomas!" You could practically see his smug face as you sat and watched the phone screen while he took his time typing up a response. The jerk, he was probably typing it excruciatingly slow on purpose.

"party u say~ i was curious why u seemed to want something to do so out of the blue... who do u know that's throwing a party anyway? not to be rude but the only people u rlly know are me and ur coworkers and they don't seem like the party type" 

_Ohhhh, heck no._ You could already tell that he was warming up to ask if he could come to the party, and if he did, you would be forced to as well. 

"It's my neighbors, and before you ask, no. You will not be attending the party. It's just a little kid's birthday party for heaven's sakes! It's not going to be like the ragers you're used to." You knew Thomas was definitely a party lover, but there was no chance you were going to let him talk you into going.

"awww and here i was hoping u were finally loosening up and getting some party friends. there go my hopes and dreams. guessing that we'll meet at the usual place?" You felt your nerves lessen when he finally confirmed that he could be your excuse for not going to the party. 

"Waffle House it is! See you there around 12. That's when kid parties normally start, right?" You asked to confirm if the afternoon seemed like a normal starting time of a child's birthday party.

"guess so," was all the reply you got, not that you were expecting more from Thomas. 

You spent the next hour or so getting ready to go out, most of that time being spent in the shower. After you got out, you realized only thirty minutes were left on the clock until you were supposed to meet Thomas. You wrung out the water in your hair and proceeded to dry what was still wet under a blowdryer. You decided upon wearing jeans, tennis shoes, and an extremely large sweatshirt that had the picturing of a turtle with the words "LIVE SLOW" printed on it. Brushing through your hair one more time, you finally decided that you were at an acceptable appearance to go in public. 

After one more glance around the apartment to make sure you didn't leave anything, you finally set off to meet Thomas. On your way out, you took note that Sans, Papyrus, and Frisk were all carrying in a surplus amount of snacks and drinks, Paps carrying the bulk of it. It seemed like a bit too much for what should've been a three-hour kid party, and once you noticed that Sans was carrying bottles that looked awfully close to alcohol, it was the final nail in the coffin. You realized that this party was more than just a kid party, and you were starting to worry that even if you stayed at Waffle House with Thomas for three hours or more, you may still come face to face with the party-goers when you returned. You quickly shook off the impending doom and tried to distract yourself by taking note of the city around you when you emerged from the hotel building. A quick subway ride later, you were at Waffle House, with two minutes to spare. You glanced through the building's large glass windows and saw that Thomas was already there, sipping on a large glass of water. 

"Thomas, broseph! How's it hanging?" You called jokingly as you walked through the doors and took a seat next to him. He simply rolled his eyes at you and gave a slight smirk.

"Whazzzuuuuup bro." He called back playing along with the with the odd lingo, putting special emphasis on the 'whazup' part.

"Not much." You said as you sat down, but the contemplative look you gave the table seemed to betray your carefree words.

"Something up?" He asked lightly after noticing your facial expression.

"Not really, but I do have suspicions that the party I mentioned early is more than just some kid's birthday party. I walked by my neighbors while they brought in stuff for it, and I swear one of them had enough bottles of alcohol to quench an entire frat house." You voiced your concerns out loud and looked up to Thomas' face to see what he thought.

"That is weird. You sure it was a kid's birthday party?" He looked at you doubtingly.

"Definitely! That's the weird part. What kid has enough adult friends for alcohol to be present at their party? It's just... weird. Now that I think back on it, it'd be weird for them to invite me if it's just gonna be a kid party..." You finished explaining your thoughts and peered back down at the table.

"I mean now that I think about it, it may not be that weird. Just think about it from the parents perspective. You take your kid to a party. There's nonstop high pitched screaming along with the constant worry that some kid is getting into some type of trouble. I would need a beer too, and maybe some other adults to talk to... I need a beer just thinking about it." He looked somber as he finished like he was deeply affected by the unrest the parents would have at the party. You leaned over and lightly punched his arm.

"Oh, come off it!" You laughed at his tone. "Don't act so scared by it. I mean, aren't you a self-proclaimed forever bachelor? You'll never have to fully realize that nightmare of yours." You repeated the words he had told you many times in a drawled tone that practically dripped with sarcasm.

"Sure, but doesn't mean that I can't feel bad for them." He admitted proudly before taking another sip of his water. You turned back to the counter and began to examine the menu that sat on it. You weren't really looking at it though, you already knew what your order was after eating here so many times. You just were thinking while letting your eyes rest on it. You knew having Thomas as a friend was an odd pairing. You were a recluse with a playfully, dorky attitude, and he was like some jock with a constant playboy type mentality minus the surplus of money playboys normally had. Even though the two of you were so contrastingly different, he was still one of the closest friends you've had. It seemed that what people said about opposites attracting was really true. You ended up getting so deep in thought, that when the waiter arrived to take your orders, you barely noticed. The rest of the time was spent with playful banter between yourself and Thomas, and after waiting around three hours, you decided it was best to finally give up your table to someone else. You followed Thomas to his car to say goodbye, but when the both of you reached it, Thomas seemed to hesitate.

"You know, I'm kind of curious about this party too now. Come on, let me come over and I'll check it out with you. They invited you, right? It'd be rude not to at least make an appearance." He looked to you with a pleading expression similar to a puppy, eventually adding a drawn-out, "Pleeeeaaaaase" for good measure. 

"Thomas I don't know... I really just don't want to socialize with some random people..." You shifted uncomfortably. You wished he knew the real reasoning behind your discomfort with your neighbors maybe then he wouldn't insist, but information about your soul just wasn't something you went around telling people about.

"Alright, alright. Let's make a wager then. I'm going to come over to hang out, and if the party is still going on by eight tonight, you come to check it out with me? If it's not still going on... I'll use correct grammar in texts, as correct as I can at least." He looked to you hopefully then added, "I mean, what are the chances a kid's party goes on until eight, right?" You could feel he was leading you into a trap, but another side nagged at you telling you not to let down the only real friend you had in this lonely city. Your gaze was cast to the ground indecisively, but you eventually looked back up to meet his pleading gaze.

"Fine... But if it is still going on, we spend no more than fifteen minutes max." You said finally. He seemed to perk up immediately.

"Deal!" He called as he shook your hand to confirm it. "Come on get in. I might as well drive you if I'm heading to the same place." He opened the door to his car's passenger side, before stepping aside waiting for you to enter.

"What a gentleman." You said mockingly with an eye roll before stepping in. 

"As always." He added in an overdramatic tone.

It wasn't long before the two of you made it out of the traffic and into the parking lot of the apartment building. When you got there, you found a few more cars were present than normal, but certainly not enough for the amount of snack that the skelebros had toted in. 

"Maybe the party is already over? See, not a lot of cars are here." You said hopefully, giving Thomas a triumphant glare.

"Maybe it hasn't even started yet." He retorted returning the glare. 

After that, the two of you headed in and spent the rest of the day awaiting results. It was about five that even Thomas had given up hope of winning the bet. "Man, is it really already over?" He groaned indignantly from his spot on the couch.

"Hehe, you have to use correct grammar." You singsonged back to him, but right as you were finishing your words, you heard the muffled sound of music being turned up on the other side of your apartment's wall. You knew that the party already being over was too good to be true. "Ahh, what? Don't tell me it just started! Is this some sick joke the universe decided to play on me?" You griped and ran to the glass sliding door that showed your balcony. You tugged back the curtain that normally kept out the harsh brightness of outside, only to reveal a large cast of people all chatting on the terrace. "Why the heck are there so many adults at a kids party?" You quickly closed the curtain upon noticing a large amount of the people there were monsters and turned to Thomas giving him a hopeless look. At this rate, you were going to be forced to go to the party. You didn't even like parties to start with, but one full of monsters that were all slightly intoxicated and could unconsciously use their magic at any time? That was straight from your worst nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone that doesn't know what Waffle House is, it's basically just a breakfast food place that's normally open 24/7.


	9. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You ~~not so~~ surprisingly go to the party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late chapter! Also, I probably will only post one this week because I was just very busy this weekend. I hope the fact that this is longer than most chapters will make up for that. As always, I hope you all enjoy!

"Aww that's unfortunate for you, but for me, it looks like I win the bet. I will soon enough anyway." Thomas gave a sardonic wink while declaring his triumph, to which you just dismissively rolled your eyes in response.

"Who knows, maybe it could still be over by eight. There are still three hours to go after all." You clung onto that last ounce of hope like your life depended on it. The absolute last thing you wanted to do was to go to this party. "Sooooo... If it is still going on by eight, you don't need me to come with, right? You're a pretty extroverted guy. You can handle yourself alone, right?" You walked over to Thomas and gave him a begging look. 

"Noooo way. My party crashing days are over. Plus, getting you to go party is too good of an opportunity to pass up." He kicked back on the couch sprawled across it as if he was the king of the place. 

"You can go by yourself. I'm not going." You snapped back with an annoyed groan.

"Don't be such a child. It's just a party. We don't even know if it will go on until eight, so why don't we just chill out until then?" He tried to coax you back to a calmer attitude, which you knew good and well was just a ploy to make you more accepting of going to the party.

"Mhmm." You growled back and sat down on the couch, forcing him to move his legs out of the way.

"What happened to you? If I recall it correctly, didn't we meet at a party? Remember it was at the bar that was having a karaoke night? You were SUPER drunk and went up to the stage to sing Careless Wh-" 

"SHUT UP, shut up!" You interrupted and cover his mouth dramatically. "We agreed never to speak of that night!" You gave out a slight laugh when you tried to remember the details of that night. It was basically one big blur, but you did recall going up on stage to sing and falling off from being so blackout drunk. When you fell off, Thomas had caught you and literally declared himself as your "knight in shining armor." Then he spent the rest of the night falling you around making sure you stayed out of trouble even though he barely knew you. He may be a self-proclaimed playboy, but you knew he was a good guy that would have your back no matter what.

He shoved your hands away and let out a hearty laugh. "If I recall, you begged me not to ever talk about that night, and I said maybe. I have no recollection of fully agreeing not to talk about it." He raised his eyebrow and gave you a playful smirk.

"Whatever, spare me the details." You sighed before turning your attention to the tv. The two of you spent the next few hours in silent anticipation. Even though both your gazes rested on the tv, whenever the music paused or was quieted for a moment both of you would tense up waiting expectantly for it either to resume or turn off completely. Unfortunately for you, it would resume every time shortly after. It was long before the dreaded hour of eight arrived, and Thomas stood up from the couch.

"Would you look at that." He commented pulling back the curtains of the sliding glass door that lead to the balcony. "People are still here, lots of them at that. The party is still going, and so are we!" He exclaimed and pointed towards the back porch for extra effect. It took a moment before he turned back to look at the crowd, but he eventually noticed that the majority of the party-goers appeared to be monster. "Huh, never been to a monster party before. Guess there's a first time for everything, right?" You only managed to groan back in response before laying back into the couch.

"Told you already, I'm not going." You huffed and pulled Papyrus' blanket around you to get your point across. 

"Oh, yes you are." He purred before tugging the last defense that was the blanket away. "Up up, we're heading out." He gave you a sly smile and held out his hand to you so he could lead the way. 

"Stop trying to act like a gentleman. A true gentleman wouldn't force me to go to some party that I don't wanna attend." You retorted with an indignant glare.

"Hmm, too bad I'm not a true gentleman then." He finished by tugging you onto your feet since you seemed to not have any response to his more friendly invitations to stand. He started to tug you to the door that leads into the hallway of the apartment complex, but his tugging was interrupted by you quickly pulling away.

"Wait! Wait..." You huffed a second and caught your breath from the struggle. "If you're gonna force me to go, at least let me get their blanket." You whined as you walked back toward the couch. When you grabbed the blanket and began to fold it up he gave you an odd look. "Long story, but basically they 'loaned' it to me when I fell asleep on the balcony, said I looked cold." You explained shortly before stomping up to Thomas in an overdramatic fashion. "Okay... Let's go, but I'm serious when I say I'm staying no more than fifteen minutes. You can stay longer if you'd like, but don't do anything stupid that'll make me look bad for bringing you." You nagged him and started towards the door.

"I'll have you know I'm pretty well behaved at parties." He said in an overly fake hurt tone. 

"Suuuuuure." You responded with a smirk. You halted completely once you reached the door in order to give yourself a moment to mentally prepare for the stress that was about to ensue from being around so many monsters at once.

"You good?" Thomas asked sincerely noticing that your mood all the sudden changed.

"Hmm? Oh y-yeah. You know me... I'm just not the most extroverted person in the world." You said and put on a fake smile to let him know you were alright.

"If you say so... Don't worry though, your knight in shining armor refuses to leave your side at parties!" He declared triumphantly pulling you close to his side. As awkward as the gesture was, it did manage to improve your mood somewhat.

"Stop talking like that or people will think we're dating or something weird like that." You laughed before pulling back away from him and opening the door to the hall.

"Love you, but not in a million years. You're more like my mom than anything." You hummed in agreement and watched as he practically bounced into the hall in excitement. He looked like he was about ready to sprint full force into the party next door, but when he reached the door, he stopped and looked back in wait for you. You quickly joined his side and gave a hesitant knock on the door. It felt like a minute or so had passed by, and you were beginning to wonder if anyone could even hear you on the other side of the door based on how loud everyone seemed to be in there. After one more knock and another minute, you finally heard the doorknob jiggle in anticipation of someone opening it.

Once the door open, it revealed none other than Sans the skeleton on the other side. "sup. honestly wasn't expecting you to make it, but feel free to come in. glad to have you." 

"Uhh, thanks. Oh uh, by the way, I brought back the blanket Papyrus gave me this morning. Also, this is my friend, Thomas," you answered back quietly and handed the blanket over to Sans. Once you did, you looked up to Thomas to see if he was ready to go in as well.

"Glad to be here," Thomas responded to Sans with a friendly nod. It seemed like only then did Sans seem to notice him at your side. He gave a hesitant glance to Thomas, before stepping aside to let you both enter. Thomas took the first step in quickly accompanied by you at his side. Once the two of you were fully inside, Sans closed the door and gave one last friendly wave to the both of you before joining the crowd once again. You looked up to Thomas one more time hoping that he might be okay with just leaving then and there, but it was like he had stars in his eyes. It was at that point that you knew you lost Thomas to the party. He stayed by your side as he promised, but he compromised with this by tugging you to the nearest crowd of people. It was one of the smaller crowds within the apartment consisting of around six or seven people all in a circle talking casually. Within the circle, you noticed two other humans which made you feel a little calmer, but not calming your nerves at all was the 4 other monsters that composed the circle. Your nerves were mostly appeased with Thomas by your side, though, because you knew if anything did happen regarding the monsters, he'd undoubtedly protect you. 

You looked up to Thomas and gave him a reprimanding whisper, "Dude, you don't just randomly join a circle of strangers." He simply responded by looking down at you and shrugging.

"I'm teaching you how to make new friends tonight." You could've growled at how extremely extroverted you best friend was if it wasn't one of his better traits. The next few minutes were spent with Thomas actively engaging with the group of strangers making it seem like talking to them was the easiest thing in the world, while you stayed quiet at his side. It didn't take long until a taller, bunny-like monster with blue fur tried to bring you into the conversation as well.

"Hey Thomas, what's your friend's name?" The bunny monster referenced you with a head tilt, obviously curious. He seemed to notice your discomfort within the circle and offered you a friendly smile.

"Oh, yeah! This is Cali! I'm teaching her how to be social tonight." He looked over at you with a proud smile before patronizingly patting your head.

"Don't tell random people that you're teaching me how to be social." You scolded back with an annoyed grimace.

"See what I'm saying? She's a little antisocial, so I'm teaching her the ways of the extrovert." He completely ignored your annoyance from the head pat earlier and gave you another equally patronizing one. You rolled your eyes and looked to the ground. You really wanted nothing more than to leave this place right now.

"Looks like someone needs to teach you how to recognize when a lady is unhappy." The blue bunny spoke up again to Thomas' dismay. You let out a small chuckle at his comment knowing that Thomas would be deeply offended by it. The bunny monster only seemed encouraged by your laugh.

"I know when a girl is unhappy." Thomas pouted and removed his hand from your head. 

The bunny monster only responded with a sarcastic, "Mhmm," that only seemed to annoy Thomas further. You gave out another small giggle. This rabbit seemed to know exactly how to push Thomas' buttons, which was an impressive feat on its own with how upbeat Thomas normally was.

"Nice to meet you, Cali." The rabbit said in a friendly tone. "You can call me Tom, and that orange feline right there," he nudged his head in the direction of the orange cat monster by his side, "is Burger Pants, but you can just call him Burgy." The cat monster by his side looked just about as uncomfortable as you at the party, but you weren't too sure.

"Nice to meet you, little buddy." The cat commented his voice cracking awkwardly in the middle of his words. The bunny gave a weak laugh at the cat's voice crack before he continued talking.

"You can ignore his awkwardness. I swear he's a nice guy once you know him." The bunny reassured you to which you just gave a polite nod in return. You unconsciously scooted closer to Thomas feeling uncomfortable under the group of monsters' eyes. It didn't take long for Thomas to pick back up the pace of the conversation after this. You managed to keep up with it for a few moments before your mind started to drift to other things. Your eyes glanced around the apartment, and every now and then you would notice a group of children run around all the adults. The group was mainly composed of monster children, but you did take quick notice that Frisk was within in the group as well, seemingly the leader of it. Another odd thing you noticed about the group was that they all wore striped shirts. It brought you back to your own childhood when your father would always insist on you wearing striped shirts as well in a way to enforce the tradition. It gave you an odd comfort seeing something that felt so familiar to you. 

Next, your attention turned to the growing loudness that revolved around the living room area of the apartment. Occasionally, you'd hear an extremely loud "UGH" or "THIS IS SO STUPID" come from that area, but you couldn't seem to discern the owner of the voice. It wasn't until a circle opened up around the couches that you could see the person making the annoyed shouts. You looked curiously in their direction, noticing that people seemed to now be flocking away from that direction as if their lives depended on it, and it was once your eyes met with a very angry fish lady holding a chair in the air menacingly that you realized everyone's cause of concern. "WHO NEEDS TO BE GOOD AT POKER WHEN YOU CAN JUST BE STRONG! FUHUHUHUHUHU!" She looked like she was about to suplex the chair into the ground until Papyrus appeared by her side and stole away the chair before placing it back onto the ground.

"NOW NOW UNDYNE, LET'S JUST CALM DOWN. PLEASE?" Papyrus asked nervously in an attempt to pacify the fish monster. She seemed agitated by Papyrus taking her chair, and so, she instead suplexed him. Everyone that had gathered around just seemed to laugh about it and brush it off. A moment after, the group that you had previously been talking to seemed to notice the dilemma occurring.

"Huh, looks like somebody gave Undyne a bit to much alcohol," Tom commented with an amused grin. Your mouth hung ajar at the pure raw strength that the fish monster had. 

_Why the heck is everyone acting like this is normal?!_ You stared completely stunned at the fish monster who finally had released Papyrus from her death grip of noogying only after he begged for mercy.

"Oh, guess you don't know Undyne, huh?" Tom asked curiously sensing your disbelief. You could only manage to shake your head no as you watched the fish monster give out another triumphant laugh. "Don't worry about it. She's more bark than her bite... Okay, that's a lie. She may be equal in bark and bite, but she's well-meaning, I swear." Tom let out another light-hearted laugh before he pealed his attention away from the deescalating situation in the living room. You looked back to Thomas, who seemed equally as stunned by the fish monster's strength. You thought he was about to run out of the room in fear, but a wide smile quickly replaced his fearful look.

"I want to meet her." He declared with a look of amazement in his eye. You could only leave your mouth hanging wide open in response.

"Wh-Why?! She's downright terrifying." You spoke the second comment more quietly, not wanting to offend any friends of her's that may be close by.

"Just think about it, she may very well be the strongest person I may ever meet. I could use a friend like her for whenever I get in fights at parties." He continued to stare at her eagerly.

"When have you gotten into a fight at a party?" You commented with an eye roll.

"It could happen." He responded giving you an amused smile.

"Suuuuure." You thought he was merely joking, but seconds later, he had a tight hold of your arm and was weaving through the circles of people the dotted the apartment going in the direction that you last saw the fish monster in. "Thomas!?" You squeaked as he headed straight for her. It took a moment, but you eventually wiggled out of his grip. He stopped and looked back at you curiously. "I-I um... It's been fifteen minutes, so I'm gonna head back now. You're free to stay without me." His mouth creased into a frown.

"Aww come on. Don't make me the bad guy here. You seemed like you were doing fine earlier. What're fifteen more minutes going to do?" He pleaded with you.

"Seriously, I'll be fine. I'm not gonna be offended if you want to stay, really." You assured him with a fake smile to go along with it. He seemed to buy it and began to look back towards the fish monster.

"If you're sure..." He spoke indecisively towards the ground.

"I am." You assured him with another fake smile.

"Okay. If you need anything or if anything happens, just text me and I'll be right over, okay?" You nodded in response which seemed to appease his worried expression. He returned the smile and began to walk away, not before giving you an affection squeeze to the shoulder. You sighed as your only real safety line at the party started to disappear into the crowd. After he was completely out of sight, you could feel the anxiety of all the monsters surrounding you begin to weigh you down. 

_Just walk out fast. Don't make eye contact._ You thought to yourself and let your eyes rest on your feet. You turned and marched robotically toward the front door in an attempt to escape the party. Right as you reached the door, you heard the music shut off, and someone began to speak over the crowd.

"Hello everybody. I'd like to thank you for coming to Frisk's birthday party, as I'm sure she's delighted by all your presences. The party has been going on for a while now, so I think it's about time we let Frisk blow out the candles to her cake. She'll also be opening presents in the kitchen for anyone that wants to be _present_ for that." You halted at the door as the entire room went silent except for one familiarly nice voice. You turned back to look at the crowd and saw the lady you identified as goat mom standing at the front of it holding Frisk at her side. Why did you always have such horrible timing? You couldn't leave now. If you did, everyone would hear you open the door, and it'd be extremely rude to leave at the main celebration. So, you were forced to stand alone awkwardly at the doorway as you waited for the festivities to be over with. It was a few minutes before the goat monster got the crowd organized enough to sing happy birthday, but once they finally had, a sigh of relief left your chest. The music started back up, and you could finally escape without being noticed. 

You turned your gaze back to your feet as you made a final escape towards the door. You were just about to reach it when you felt yourself bump directly against someone, causing you to give off a highly embarrassing squeal in surprise.

"oops, didn't see you there." You heard the person you bumped into say. You recognized the voice as belonging to Sans almost immediately and forced yourself to peel your eyes away from the ground to meet his.

"M-Me either." You responded weakly looking into his eye lights. You turned your gaze away from him, not feeling too fond of the eye contact. You saw him give you a sympathetic smile out of the corner of your eye.

"what happened to your buddy... thomas was it?" He looked around a moment trying to see him in the crowd.

"Uhh, he ran off. Something about wanting to befriend the monster that suplexed your brother in the living room a few minutes ago." Sans seemed to give an expectant smirk to this, almost like he had expected it or something. You gazed around Sans towards the door wishing you could've just gotten to it sooner. He followed your gaze and let out a small sigh.

"oh, were you about to leave? don't let me get in your way." He spoke friendly enough, but you couldn't help but notice the tinge of disappointment that laced his words.

"I-I mean I was, but... I'm okay talking a minute more." You offered in an attempt to be a good neighbor.

"i a _door_ e you trying to be nice, but if you've got places to go, by all means, don't let me stop you." His smile grew wide as he accented the door part of his words specifically. You couldn't help but let out a small laugh from the pun.

"It seems our conversations always _hinge_ on the use of puns. _Knob_ that I'm complaining or anything." You cracked back with a smile of your own. Sans' eye light grew wide in appreciation to your response. 

" _wood_ you be so nice as to tell me what you think of the party?" 

"That one was a bit of a stretch." You retorted, but couldn't help the grin that crept onto your face from it.

"hey, don't _knock_ it 'til you try it." You finally let out the hearty laugh that had been building up since he first started the pun war.

"You totally set me up for that one!" You complained with a small wheeze of laughter as you tried to regain your composure.

"maybe..." He countered slyly. After the puns ran short, a spell of silence ran through the conversation. You remembered your anxieties which the skeleton had hidden with his jokes at first. You were curious how he so easily calmed your anxious mind, but you didn't dwell on that question too long in worry of the growing silence between the both of you.

"Thanks for inviting me. Also, if Thomas does anything embarrassing while I'm gone... Please don't blame me for it. He's just... Very excitable." You finished trying to make it clear any mishaps on Thomas' part wasn't your fault.

"don't worry about it. i know a few people like that..." You followed his gaze as it drifted across the room eventually landing on a certain tall skeleton that stuck out of the crowd like a sore thumb. While making sure to hold in a slight chuckle at the gesture, you decided to move the conversation along to hopefully end it soon.

"Oh. Before I go, I was curious about why there are so many adults at a kid's birthday party. Frisk must be pretty popular, huh?" His eye lights widened a moment in surprise after he registered the question. They seemed to search you in honest confusion, which spiked your nerves to dangerous levels before he finally gave a response.

"huh, guess not everyone knows the kid after all. i had my suspicions when you didn't make a comment after first meeting her, but you really don't recognize frisk then." You tilted your head in confusion to his response.

"Uhh, I don't think that really answered my question?" You whispered nervously. Had you met Frisk before and you just didn't remember it? You tended to do that quite often, but you normally at least recognized the person as someone familiar if nothing else.

"oh yeah. it definitely wasn't an answer, sorry 'bout that. frisk is the ambassador of monsters." He paused a moment watching intently as your eyes widened, only to continue after putting on a small smirk. "the same one who freed all the monsters from the underground." He gave out a small laugh at the end of his sentence that sounded oddly more ironic than anything else.

"Oh... I-I can't believe I didn't re-recognize them. I pr-probably seem like I've l-lived under a rock now!" You stuttered as you spoke in a rushed and embarrassed manner.

"nah, honestly i don't blame you much for avoiding the news. all it is these days is either discriminating monsters or discriminating people who discriminate monsters. it ends up just riling up both sides more." He gave a small whistle before finishing with, "quite the vicious cycle. not like it's anything _news_ anymore though." You feigned a nervous smile in response to the bad pun.

"Yeah..." You agreed quietly, your gaze shifting to your feet. "Anyway, I'm gonna get out of your hair now." You responded once more in a quiet voice. Sans blankly nodded in acknowledgment to you as you turned heel and began to walk away.

"see ya later." You heard a response finally come from him right before you stepped through the door. You turned around and offered the friendliest smile and wave goodbye you could manage before finally escaping the nightmare of the monster dominated party.


	10. A Chill Morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You spend a relatively chill morning out on the balcony and meet a friend of Sans and Papyrus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven't posted in so long everyone! I just got kind of busy with school work. It's pretty calm compared to last chapter, but I still hope everyone enjoys.

BUZZ... BUZZ... BUZZ...

You struggled under the covers that restrained you to your bed and gave out a yawn of victory once you had successfully torn yourself away from the blankets. It took a moment of mental processing before you remembered why you had left the warmth of your bed, and once it hit you, you reached over and pulled your phone off the nightstand to confront the buzzing that had awoken you. Scrolling through the screen, it was becoming apparently obvious that Thomas was trying to get a hold of you. 

"Did u make it home last night"- Received at 9:06 AM

"I knocked on ur door but u never answred"- Received at 9:10 AM

"Ey can u answr me im starting to get worried"- Received at 9:22 AM

"Cali?"- Received at 9:45 AM

You scrolled through the text briefly, getting the general idea of what most of them consisted of. You pressed down on the call button that hovered above his contact deciding calling him would probably be the easiest way to calm his nerve. 

Ding... Ding... Di-

"Cali? God Cali. You really had me worried there." Thomas sighed in relief from the other line.

"What are you, my mom?" You retorted curtly.

"Ouch. Not a morning person, I know. You just never gave me any indication you made it home safe, and with all the strangers that were wandering around your apartment last night... I was just worried." By now, you were beginning to feel bad for not calling him sooner, and even worse for acting rude over his genuine concern.

"Sorry... I just like sleeping in on Sundays." You apologetically responded in a quieter voice.

"Nah, you're fine. I get it. Anyway, I was really just checking to make sure nothing crazy happened with you."

"Nope. Everything's normal with me." You paused a moment assuming the conversation was over, but your curiosity over his greeting with the intimidating fish monster was beginning to eat at you. "... But what about you? How'd your friend mission go last night?"

"Actually, it went pretty good! When you left, her wife showed up and helped calm her down. After that, she was pretty chill. We exchanged numbers, and I'm pretty sure we're having lunch sometime next week. She said that she 'liked my spirit' and wanted to 'teach me what it meant to be a true partier,' whatever the heck that means. Whatever it was, it sounded interesting." He explained the events that transpired after your departure in short detail.

"Mmmh. Sounds like you got yourself a new party buddy." You giggled from the other side of the phone.

"You know, they probably wouldn't mind if you wanted to-"

"Nope." You figured out where that sentence was going and had no intent on joining them on their lunch like he was proposing.

"Heyyy," he complained. "You didn't even let me finish!" He feigned offense to your reply.

"Didn't need to. I'm actually telepathic. I knew exactly where it was going." You stated matter-of-factly.

"Really, that so?" You could practically hear the smirk in his voice.

"Yup." You responded without missing a beat.

"Welp, I've got no rebuttal to that. If you change your mind about meeting with us for lunch, call me. Bye." After that, a beep signaled he had hung up. You let out a huff and tried to decide what to do with the rest of your day. By now, you were already fully awake, thanks to Thomas, so there was no point in trying to go back to sleep. Maybe you could go enjoy a quiet morning on the balcony after all the ruckus that transpired on it last night?

You stood up and opted to change into clean clothes first, as you never really made time to do that last night before you went to bed. You changed into a tank-top. It was your favorite color and hugged the curves of your waist quite nicely. This was accompanied by a pair of black leggings that were equally tight. The weather lately had been kind of muggy from the rain, and you had no reason to believe today would be any different, so an outfit that would keep you cooler seemed to be the best option. 

Making your way to the balcony, you flipped off the light switches within your apartment preferring that the natural lighting from the morning sun take over. Once you made it outside, you were met with a delight coolness and a groggy sky that covered the sun fully that seemed to promise rain. You leaned against the railing and watched the outside world buzz around you with life. It was a slower morning for traffic, unlike the business of the city that you had grown accustomed to. However, you supposed it made sense since it was a Sunday morning. You spent the next for minutes leaning there just to drink in the view. It wasn't long until you were forced out of the light daydreams that you had allowed to take over by the calling of someone's voice in the apartment beside yours.

"Papy! I do appreciate how you let me stay over. It just would've been such a hassle to find a room so late at night." The voice practically purred in an odd, almost robotic way.

"DO FRET, METTATON! I'M ALWAYS HAPPY TO HELP A FRIEND IN NEED." This voice you recognized quite well as belonging to Papyrus. You paused curiously when you heard the name Mettaton spoke, but thought you must have just misheard it. After all, why would the skeleton brothers have a famous monster actor in their apartment? After finding out they were throwing the party for The Ambassador of Monsters, you really shouldn't be surprise, but having someone like Mettaton still just seemed too unrealistic.

"why couldn't ya just've rented an apartment 'for you came to town?" That voice you also recognized as belonging to Sans. You didn't really want to pry on their discussion, so you tried to tune them out... Which... Proved to be a challenge whenever Papyrus spoke, to say the least. So, you decided to distract yourself by surveying the rest of the balcony. It seemed someone had already gotten out and cleaned the entire porch spotless. You remembered seeing a few empty cups and random messes littered around the porch when you looked through it with Thomas last night, but someone had obviously already made quick work to clean it all up. You assumed that someone was Papyrus. 

The sweetie was really just too considerate of all his neighbors, and he even made the point to clean the balcony before anyone else rose. You hated to admit that you were beginning to warm up to the skeleton brothers and other monsters in general, which was displeasing to the small voice that tugged at the back of your mind telling you to distance yourself. You knew this was a risky game to play... You were just beginning to find the appeal of befriending the brothers, and it was just so tempting to do so with their heartwarming personalities. Not to mention how Sans had spent time with you at the party last night to make you feel personally welcomed minus the awkwardness that lingered in the air when you were telling him goodbye. You were once again struck from your thoughts when the sound of the sliding door from next door sounded, and you froze nervously trying to keep to inch back to your own door in a not so obvious manner.

"Darling, me! Who knew such a precious human would be waiting out here." You heard the voice from earlier speak in your direction with the same sweetness coating each word. You had been spotted, and now there was no choice but to speak to whomever Sans and Papyrus had allowed to sleep over last night. You forced yourself away from the door, not wanting to appear rude and offered a small wave. Once you managed to peel your eyes nervously off the floor, you felt your jaw drop in surprise.

"M-Mettaton?" You questioned in a daze of confusion. Sure enough, the famous talk show star was standing in front of you now.

"Oh my! Seems we have a fan. Would I be correct in that assumption?" The robot questioned in a kind voice as he put a hand to his hip and strutted in your direction. Once he neared, you felt your gaze steadily raise with his height. He was around Papyrus' height and was oddly even more attractive than he appeared on TV.

"Uhh? I-I've seen some of y-your talk shows, but honestly, not much else." You felt like you were almost apologizing to the robot for not watching more of his content. 

"AHH, I SEE YOU'VE MET OUR NEIGHBOR! METTATON, THIS IS CALI, AND AS YOU ALREADY SEEM TO KNOW, CALI, THIS IS METTATON!" Papyrus introduced you to one another excitedly with his usual gusto. By now, the entire cast had spilled onto the balcony, which included Mettaton, Papyrus, and Sans. Sans looked particularly annoyed, which only caused you to clam up further. All that you could manage to make sense of was that he was annoyed with you for some reason. Maybe it was because of your curt exit? If that was it, it wasn't like you didn't deserve his judgment. You probably would be mad with him if he had left like that in the middle of a conversation, so why wouldn't he be mad with you?

"N-Nice to m-meet you." You responded to Papyrus with a worsening stutter, and your voice quickly began to grow quieter. You hated that you basically became a different person when talking to people you didn't know, and it got even worse when that person was a monster. Anxiety over it all was really eating you up. You stared at the ground and played with the rim of your tank top in an attempt to distract yourself from the situation. You couldn't figure out why, but what bothered you most seemed to be Sans' annoyance with what you assumed must've been caused by yourself. All the monsters stayed quiet a moment longer before Mettaton spoke back up in a much gentler tone than previously.

"Nice to meet you too, Cali, which is quite a nice name if I do say so." You felt his hand brush across yours he took it up and planted a charismatic kiss onto the back of it. Needless to say, this did not help your growing anxieties. You were about to respond when you felt someone push their way in between yourself and Mettaton. You looked up to see Sans standing above you giving Mettaton an annoyed glare.

"alright now, i'm _nuts and bolts_ about you two meeting, but mettaton we were kind of in the middle of a discussion before you ran off." His voice sounded cool and collected, but an angry undertone in his glare betrayed his demeanor.

"You're completely right, Sans! Now, what were you saying before Papyrus showed up? Something about you wanting m-" Mettaton was promptly cut off by Sans obvious deflection of whatever he was about to say.

"never mind 'bout that," Sans responded nervously looking down at you. Whatever discussion they were having, you were obviously intruding.

"Sorry... I-I'll get out of your hair." You cut in and made your way to your apartment's door.

"kid, don't worry about it. we don't got a monopoly on the balcony. you were here first, and i don't wanna leave ya _high_ and dry. we'll get out of your hair." Sans responded to you with a wink as he pointed toward the ground far below for extra effect on the pun. You couldn't help but give out a restrained giggle in response to the pun, no matter how cheesy it was. 

"No really, you guys are fine. I was just about to-" 

"Darling, that's really quite alright." Mettaton insisted and grabbed Papyrus' hand before tugging the skeleton inside. You could've sworn you saw a red tint lighting up Papyrus' cheeks before Mettaton tugged him completely inside, leaving you and Sans alone on the balcony.

"ugh, that damn robot. i swear he's got a _screw loose._ " Sans muttered while watching the two disappear inside. It wasn't long before he turned his gaze back to you. "guess they can't get into too much trouble in a span of five minutes..." He spoke leading you to believe he wanted to talk.

This was it. He was about to tell you off for acting the way you did last night and leaving in the middle of your conversation, not to mention leaving your friend at the party alone when nobody there actually knew him. It's not that you didn't feel you deserved all this, but you still hated confrontation.

"I'm sorry." You beat him to it hoping he wouldn't be quite as mad if you apologized first. Everything around you seemed to go silent as you awaited a response, and eventually, curiosity overtook you. Your eyes trailed up the skeleton until they met with his eye lights. They seemed constricted and almost non-existent.

"hun?" The term of endearment seemed to easily slip out of his mouth. "why are you apologizing? i was about to apologize for having my crazy guest come out here and randomly kiss your hand." Now it was your turn to be surprised by his response. You really did think he was about to tell you off, and maybe even go into how you acted when you first moved in. So, his apology came as a great surprise.

"Oh... I thought you were mad how I left so suddenly last night... I kind of left in the middle of our conversation, so I just thought..." You went quiet at a loss for words.

"no, no." He assured you and his constant smile seemed to grow a little tense. "really kid, you don't have to apologize for that. honestly, i didn't exactly expect you to come. you don't seem like the type to enjoy parties a whole lot. now myself, i'm a party _monster_ , but you don't look like a monster to me." A small smirk made its way onto your lips. 

"Guess I just got kind of _bonely_ only hanging out with Thomas." You found your voice again now that it was just the two of you, and he didn't seem mad. The pressure that had previously been on your chest seemed to melt away unexpectantly, leaving an oddly pleasant hum in your soul. You weren't sure why you were feeling such butterflies in your stomach, but the skeleton seemed to just draw out this side of you. His smile relaxed when you punned back.

"that's good to hear. honestly though, i thought mettaton had _scared you out of your skin_ , but seems i'm the only one without skin here. ehh, excluding paps and mettaton sorta." He quipped back. You couldn't help but giggle at the somewhat failed attempt at the joke.

"METTATON, WHY DON'T YOU LET ME SHOW YOU PROPER TECHNIQUE FOR STIRRING SCRAMBLED EGGS?" You heard from Sans' apartment and felt yourself tune into their conversation slightly.

"Oh yes, you do that darling." The robot purred from inside. When you looked back at Sans he could only muster a disappointed look directed at the door.

"ugh... i gotta go back to make sure those two don't get into trouble." He sighed and waved you goodbye.

"Are they a couple or something?" You couldn't help but ask, Mettaton was clearly flirting with Papyrus by the tone of his voice, and Papyrus was... Well, he was Papyrus so you weren't sure if it was innocent help or an attempt to flirt back, but whatever was going on it seemed at least one of them was trying to keep the relationship from being only platonic. 

"mettaton probably wants that, but they aren't if i have anything to say 'bout it." You couldn't help but give a small smirk from Sans' protectiveness over his brother. You couldn't blame him for not wanting them to hook up though, it seemed as if Mettaton was quite the flirt based on his interactions with you.

"See you then. You take care of those crazy kids." You joked and made your way to your own door.

"will do, hun." He winked at you and took a step inside. You felt your cheeks immediately light up red. Thank god the skeleton was out of sight. You weren't sure if you would be able to handle it if he saw the reaction from his term for you and the wink. You were not expecting to feel so frazzled from what was probably just him being friendly, but there you were, red in the face over a skeleton winking at you.


	11. Making Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter in which you make plans for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HOLY CRAP I TOOK SO LONG TO POST THIS! I'm truly very sorry. ;-; I just got really caught up in school work and exams and before I knew it, bam it had been like 3 weeks and no chapter. Once again, very sorry about that, but I hope you still enjoy the chapter! ALSO HOLY CRAP 200+ KUDOS! God you guys are way to kind to me, especially with how bad I am with posting. Really I can't thank you guys enough for all the support!

As you made your way back inside from the porch, you couldn't help but giggle at the occasional snippets of conversation you would hear from next door. Most of them would go along the lines of Papyrus being so helpful it might be flirting, Mettaton flirting back, and then Sans either audibly sighing or flat out saying **"no."** Even if Sans sounded over it all, you couldn't help but admire how loving and borderline overprotective of his brother he was.

The rest of the morning was spent rather peacefully. You never got around to making breakfast for yourself because being lazy outweighed actual productivity at any time of the day. So, when noon came around you found yourself practically starving for some actual food. You scoured your fridge for any type of real food, but all you could manage to find was a bag of frozen pizza rolls. It wasn't the healthiest option but... You could never say no to pizza rolls. After turning on the oven to a reasonable temperature to warm the frozen bits of heaven, you made your way to the couch decidedly watching tv while you waited for the oven to heat up. A few minutes into the wait, a strong knock sounded at your door. You looked towards your phone thinking maybe Thomas had decided to stop by, as he normally texted you before he did so, but there were no recent texts from him. You lowered you eyebrow curiously towards the door as another set of knocks reverberated through the apartment.

"Coming!" You called and trotted to the door. As you reached it, you eyed the slide lock trying to decide whether to unlock it or leave it in its locked position. You knew that Sans and Papyrus was still home, so if the person on the other side was dangerous, you could just call out for help, right? You also hated talking to people through the slide locks, which factored in... While you contemplated the possibilities, another set of knocks came through. "Whatever, I'm sure it'll be fine." You mumbled to yourself. With the decision made, you clicked the slide lock open and turned the doorknob until it gave way to the door. "Hello?" You asked hesitantly. Taking a good look at the man on the other side, you could definitively say you had never seen him before in your life. He was a good bit taller than you, had dark brown hair, and brown eyes to match it. In his hands, he held a clipboard with a few signatures scattered across a columned sheet.

"Hi, Miss... Calibri, right?" He questioned keeping a polite tone to his voice. You nodded to him a bit wary of why he knew your name. "I don't wish to waste either of our time, so I'll get right to it. I'm sure you've noticed the increasing numbers of monsters renting rooms in this complex, have you not?" You nodded once more, not being able to find a voice to speak with to the complete stranger. "Good. Quite a few people and I have noticed it as well, and a lot of us are unhappy and frankly uncomfortable with the situation. In order to combat the increasing number of monsters in our area, we've started a petition that will be handed to the owner of this complex as a formal request to kick them out. What I'm asking from you is that you join us to get these creepy, dangerous things away from our homes." After he finished what seemed like a well-rehearsed speech, he pushed the clipboard in your direction with a pen resting on top of it. You stared at him for a moment trying to figure out if this was serious, but you were only returned with another prod forward of the clipboard.

"Umm... No?" You responded warily finally finding your voice. Was he serious? You doubted that he ever tried to talk to a monster before because there was no way he would think they were so dangerous if so. Every encounter you had with one was always pleasant save for your social awkwardness and worry over them seeing your soul. By now though, your worry over your soul had ebbed away. Even at the party, where half of the monsters were drunk, none of them had used magic, and to be honest, you were starting to feel more comfortable around them. "I m-mean, no monsters I-I've met have seemed dangerous. I think you're m-mistaken." As you talked, your words slowly got quieter from being unsure of what you said.

"These things can, have, and will steal human souls. That's precisely how they left the underground, and you're comfortable with that?" His words were smooth and formulaic. He definitely knew how to talk with charisma, but that didn't mean he'd fool you into thinking monsters were something they weren't.

"Their track r-record is still b-better than our own. Countless humans are murdered by one another each year, and monsters have a collective count of seven. Doesn't sound so bad to me." The more you spoke, the easier you were able to form confident sentences because you truly believed what you said. Heck, you'd only stuttered like twice during that spiel. That's a mental pat on the back for yourself. He paused a moment and looked deep into your eyes. His gaze then broke away from you and flicked to and from your neighbors' door. He spoke up again in a low whisper.

"Your neighbors are monsters, right? Don't worry if they've threatened you miss. I can actually call the authorities right now if you're worried about that." With that, he began to take out his phone in preparation to dial what you assumed would be 911.

"No!" You practically yelled back before reigning in your volume. "N-No." You repeated more controlled this time. "They haven't threatened me and have been nothing other than a complete delight. Would you please, for the love of everything holy, leave me alone, along with whatever other people you are about to go harass? If you're uncomfortable with them, then for god's sake move away. No one is stopping you! They just need somewhere to stay, and when they finally find somewhere that's willing to take them, people like you are so disconnected from reality that you think they actually want anything to do with you? Get off your high horse and join the rest of us adults in the real world when you're ready." You finished speaking with a red tint on your cheeks from speaking to someone you practically didn't know for such a prolonged time, but that was the least of your worries at the moment. Your main focus was getting this creep to leave you, and the monster tenants alone. Once you had finished talking, his countenance turned condescendingly sympathetic.

"Oh, you poor dear. They must have you brainwashed with their magic so bad that you don't even know right from wrong... Don't worry. When we get them out of the building, you're sure to see things more clearly, and you'll then understand them for the demons they truly are." He practically spat the last part before retracting his clipboard from your reach. "If your brain clears up long enough to understand, I'll be in the apartment complex across the street, room 313. " That creep! He didn't even live in this complex, and he had the audacity to start this crap? His eyes trailed over you with one more sick look before turning away and knocking on a door a few rooms away.

"Gross." You whispered in his direction before practically slamming your door behind you in a bout of anger. Sure, you may not be a monsters' rights activist, but you still knew when something was unfair. Was that creep seriously trying to kick the monsters out of one of the only places that would actually offer rooms to them? "What a jerk." You huffed. After that whole incident, you were left feeling rather drained. You weren't used to being so vocal about your opinions, and to a complete stranger none the less. The whole ordeal had you feeling quite unsettled, to say the least. You had almost forgotten that you were making lunch when you heard the oven ding as a way to signal it had hit the wanted temperature. You tried to shake off any lingering thoughts of the petition and practically stomped over to the freezer where you had left the pizza rolls. After pulling them out, you placed them on a metal pan and stuck it into the oven. You set the timer for eight minutes and moved back to the couch to take a load off your feet.

Right as you sat down, you heard a knock come from the terrace door. You had pulled the curtain over it earlier, so it was unclear who was on the other side. You didn't have the patience for all the social things you were being forced into today. Once you made your way to the glass door, you tentatively pulled back the curtains to peer at whoever was on the other side. You were met with 2 pairs of white eye lights and another pair of oddly cartoon looking eyes. It took your brain a moment to process before you realized it was Mettaton, Papyrus, and Sans waiting at the door. You unlocked the door and gently slid it open. "Y-Yes?" You asked nervously, all your confidence from earlier drained away. Sans rubbed the back of his neck, which you recognized as a nervous habit from doing it yourself pretty often.

"thanks, kiddo." He stated quietly averting your gaze. You tilted your head curiously at the three before looking to Papyrus for more answers, only Mettaton was the first one to speak up again.

"What Sans means to say, is we are very grateful for your little stand up with that man in the hallway. Not many people feel too kindly about our species, and even fewer are willing to vocalize their thoughts. We thought it was only right we express our gratitude to you. It's not every day a cute little human does something like that for us, darling." Mettaton bent down slightly to meet your own eye level as he spoke. You could only respond by mimicking Sans' nervous neck rub and looking to the ground.

"It w-was... uhm... It was nothing, really. You heard th-that?" You asked quietly. Damn that stutter.

"Yes, you were quite loud," Mettaton answered with a slight smirk. He couldn't help with how much your demeanor changed from then compared to now.

"BUT HUMAN, IT REALLY WAS QUITE SOMETHING! I KNOW IT MUST BE HARD TO IMAGINE, BUT THERE REALLY ARE QUITE A FEW PEOPLE OUT THERE WHO DON'T LIKE MONSTERS. THEY DON'T EVEN LIKE ME, THE GREAT PAPYRUS! IT IS VERY COMFORTING TO HEAR THAT THERE ARE STILL SOME HUMANS THAT RIVAL MY OWN GREATNESS, LIKE YOU! NYE HEH HEH!" You couldn't help but brighten up at Papyrus' compliments.

"Thanks, P-Papyrus, but I don't think anyone could rival your greatness." You answered honestly. Papyrus was one of the truly nicest people you had ever met, even if he was a bit too energetic for your liking at times. He brought his hand to his chin in consideration a moment before responding.

"YOU ARE QUITE RIGHT, HUMAN. BUT FRET NOT, YOU STILL COME MUCH CLOSER TO MY GREATNESS THAN MANY OTHERS!" You giggled feeling some of your anxiety wash away at his words.

"Thanks, Papyrus." You responded with a genuine smile. There was a moment of silence that followed causing you to think the chat was over, but right as you were about to retreat, Mettaton clapped his hands together.

"I know! Why don't we treat you to a nice meal? After all, I'm very inclined to get to know the little human that was kind enough to stand up for the monsters living here." Mettaton practically purred as we awaited your response.

"Uhh... I-I don't know... I really didn't do that much. That guy was just k-kind of a creep, so I said what I thought. It wasn't as heroic as you're all making it sound..." You rested your hands on your chest defensively and kept your gaze to the ground.

"My, my aren't you just too precious?" Mettaton cooed. "Well, heroic or not, I'd still like to go to dinner with you. Besides," he leaned over and whispered into your ear so only you would hear. Your cheeks flushed slightly at the closeness of his breath. "I'm aching to get some time with Papyrus without his bodyguard watching, so the dinner is multipurpose. You'd be the perfect distraction." You couldn't help but snicker at his underlying purposes for the dinner.

"I'm not too sure if I'd be perfect for that..." You voiced your concerns quietly back to Mettaton. Papyrus seemed to be growing bored with the secret conversation, and you could tell by the gentle bouncing back and forth on his side. You, however, failed to notice Sans' downright homicidal look at the robot for being so close to you. Mettaton did notice this look and decided it was in his best interest to move on the conversation, at a level audible to everyone.

"Darling, if you don't feel comfortable, you can always invite a friend. I'll pay for it all, so you don't have to worry about the expenses of both of you." Mettaton commented exasperated.

"woah woah now, i thought you said you didn't have any money with you to get a room?" Sans spoke up holding a hand to his face in disappointment, to which Mettaton maturely stuck his tongue out at. A small giggle escaped you at their interactions.

"Awe come on now Sans, you know he'd just get _bonely_ without you and Papyrus!" You chirped back with your voice still small as if testing the waters. This seemed to lighten Sans' mood just a little, but Papyrus seemed far from having it.

"NYO HOH HOH! SANS YOU'VE RUINED OUR FRIEND WITH YOUR HORRIBLE HUMOR! LOOK AT HER," Papyrus rushed to your side and knelt down as if tending to a child. "SHE'S DOING THE PUNNERY UNPROVOKED NOW!" Sans only managed to snicker at this.

"aww come on paps, her joke really hit my funny _bone._ " You couldn't handle it anymore and let out an undignified snort at the brothers' antics. This seemed to only encourage Sans. "but seriously, that joke made me laugh a ton... a _skeleton._ " Papyrus let out another sad Nyohoh.

"Alright now Sans, Papyrus is gonna think you're a _monster_ if you continue like this!" Sans looked at you almost disbelieving for a moment, like he wasn't sure the pun was intentional, but when you wiggled your eyebrows at him, he held his hand to his face as a way to hold in his laughter.

"UGH, HUMAN, YOU ARE NO LONGER THE HERO I THOUGHT YOU WERE!" Papyrus covered his face with his gloves and turned away from the group dramatically.

"paps, you're smiling," Sans observed snidely.

"AND IT'S HORRIBLE!" He cried out before running back inside his own apartment. All during the banter, Mettaton merely sat back and watched with a sly grin while he formulated plans for later that evening. That was if he could get you to come.

"I guess it wouldn't be too bad hanging out with you _boneheads._ " You finished quietly your gaze finally lifting from the floor to look at Sans and Mettaton in the eyes. "But, I probably will invite a friend. Whether he shows or not, I'm not too sure of."

"That's fine, darling! We'll be at your door around six to head out. Be ready by then, and wear something cute. I'm going to treat you all at a nice restaurant." You nodded before retreating into your own room. As soon as you reached the couch, you picked up your phone and hastily texted Thomas.

"Hey! Sans, Papyrus, Mettaton, and I are all going to go out for food tonight. Care to join us? If so, meet at my apartment at six." You read out the text message out loud to make sure it sounded right, before clicking send. Almost instantly a typing signal came up from Thomas' side indicating he was typing back. You hummed to yourself for a moment while waiting for his response.

"sure any chance undyne will be there? also do you mean THE mettaton?" Ugh, you couldn't stand his text grammar, but you chose to ignore that for the sake of conversing.

"Yup, he's the one and only. I don't think Undyne is coming, but I can ask. Why? Did you get a crush on her? <3"

"nah i thought i told you shes got a wife? she just seems chill is all" You couldn't type fast enough to voice how much you disagreed with this.

"Chill? She suplexed Papyrus into the ground at that party! If she's chill, then you and I are absolute zero." Feeling satisfied with the conversation, you clicked away from it and went to text Sans to ask if Undyne might be coming, only to realize you had never got his number.

"Huh..." You wanted it for sake of convenience, but... Your anxiety nagged at your mind like a parasite. What if he thought it was weird to ask for his number? After all, you were just his neighbor. Papyrus had called you a friend, but Sans had made no such claims. You even recalled the ways he looked at you when you had first met him. They were looks of complete distrust. Why would he want to give someone like you his number? You physically shook your head trying to clear the self-deprecating thoughts out. If only they'd go that easy. "I can just go ask him if Undyne will be there in person." You resigned and made your way to the door.

When you reached your neighbors' door, you gave a hesitant tap. A few moments later, you assumed they didn't hear and prepared yourself to knock again, only to have a grumpy looking Sans open the door.

"what do yuh need?" He sounded gruff at first, but when he noticed it was you at the door a light blue tinge glowed along his cheekbones. "oh, uh, sorry." He apologized. "didn't mean to sound so rude. mettaton's just driving me up a wall."

"Don't you mean _hard driving_  you up a wall?" You retorted back with a goofy grin. Sans watched you silently, mouth hung a jar for a moment, before finally responding.

"yeah, i do mean that. so glad i thought of that awesome pun." He responded sarcastically.

"Yeah, it was pretty great, good idea Sans. Anyway, my friend that I invited was wondering if Undyne might be coming too?" After you finished speaking, he looked to the ground in thought a moment.

"... we hadn't planned on inviting her originally, but she probably would make good company to distract both me and paps from that **stupid robot.** " He yelled the last bit back into the apartment, obviously meaning for Mettaton to hear. "so to sum it up, i'll invite her too." He finished a bit awkwardly before turning to close the door. "see yuh at dinner." He waved to you in a friendly manner before starting to closing the door softly.

"Hey, umm... Sans?" You asked at almost an inaudible level before he closed it completely. You hadn't planned on asking, but spur of the moment you had other plans.

"what's up, hun?" He responded a bit of worry shifting into his expression. You couldn't help but blush at the ground from his term for you. By now, you were sure he didn't think too much of calling you hun. It was probably something he called a lot of people by the sound of it, but it still managed to properly mess with your head. It almost completely sidetracked you from what you were going to ask. You were about to ask for his number, but as you opened your mouth to form a response nothing came out.

"Sorry, uh never mind. See you tonight!" You responded hurriedly before ducking back into your apartment. Your anxiety told you he would've just said no if you asked. So, it was best not to ask at all and save the embarrassment, right?

With an answer for Thomas, you made your way back to the couch and picked up your phone.

"Sans said-" You were about to type out the rest when the stench of smoke attacked your nose. It was at that time that you were hit with the realization that you had never gotten your pizza rolls out of the oven.

"Crap!" was all you managed to yelp while making your way over to the oven. You pulled two oven mitts out of a drawer and quickly applied them to your hands, before tearing open the oven. A wall of smoke came at your face, but you ignored it and reached for where you knew the pan would be. You tugged the pan out hastily and placed it along with a few dark black pizza rolls onto the stove top. You tried to look on the bright side of it all: At least they weren't on fire.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Slow chanting* Mettaton match maker! Mettaton Match Maker! METTATON MATCH MAKER!


	12. Going for a Walk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and the gang walk to the restaurant together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Figured I'd go ahead and post this one since I missed a few weeks. As always, hope you enjoy!

After you finished cleaning up the mess you made with your blackened pizza rolls, you decided to just save your appetite for dinner later that night. Even if you did want to eat something for lunch, you didn't exactly have the supplies in your fridge, and there was no chance you were going to convince yourself to go out to the grocery store today. It took a while to air out all the smoke from the apartment, and even once you had gotten the stench out, you smelled like someone who had been smoking for the past thirty years. So, you ended up taking a quick shower. You knew you couldn't take too long since you still had to pick out some clothes to wear, but it was nice to get the smokey stench off yourself. The shower was nice and warm, but short-lived. Once you forced yourself out, the cold air hit you like a ton of bricks, and you made quick work of wrapping up in a fuzzy robe.

After making your way to the closet that was tucked away in your bedroom, you flipped through the hanging clothes in an attempt to decide what to wear. Mettaton had said to wear something nicer, so maybe a dress? You didn't exactly have a lot of options in the dress department, but you did eventually find one that was nice but not too formal. It was a flowy white material with a black ribbon halter top that tied around your neck. The black bow then came down and outlined the top of the dress around your back and shoulders, and the bottom of the dress barely grazed the top of your knees. It was a pretty simple design, but you didn't get too many opportunities to wear it. The only thing you'd have to watch out for were spills. With it being a white dress, any spill was likely to cause a stain. You decided to go ahead and put it on, and simply tied your robe back around it so you could do your make up without having to worry about it getting dirty. 

You decided to go with a simpler look for the makeup to match the simple dress. You didn't do anything extravagant for the foundation, just enough to cover up blemishes while also keeping your natural look. You didn't want anything too noticeable, but you did end up putting a smidgen of golden eye shadow on each eyelid just because it looked nice with the white dress. The only other thing you did was put on a little bit of mascara, and then, you were done. After finishing, you checked the clock. It was only five at this point so you still had an hour to kill before heading out. You remembered you never told Thomas to wear anything nice and were tempted to leave it that way just to see what he'd show up in... But, on further thought, that just seemed kind of mean. You ended up caving in and texting him that Undyne was invited and that he should wear something nicer. After all that was done, you still had about 45 minutes to kill. 

Your stomach was growling at you angrily for not feeding it all day, but you knew you needed to tough it out if you were to eat anything later that evening. For the remaining time you had, you ended up just sitting on the couch and watching tv. After about thirty minutes more, you heard a knock on your door. "Probably Thomas." You mumbled to yourself before climbing off the couch and making your way to the door. You pulled it open without a second thought and were met with Thomas leaning against the door frame in black jeans, a belt, and a button-up shirt. He wiggled his eyebrows at you playfully.

"Someone cleans up well." He remarked before tugging on the tie to your fuzzy robe for emphasis. 

"I could say the same, but that's pretty much your everyday attire." You stated with a sarcastic grin.

"Yeah, what can I say though? I dress to impress every day, so my normal attire is nice." He retorted while making himself comfortable on your couch. It was probably time to take off the robe that covered your dress, no matter how comfortable it may have been, so you untied it and threw it on top of Thomas.

"See? I do have nice clothes." You joked and sat down beside him. "Why are we sitting though? We're gonna be leaving in like ten minutes." You asked and held up your phone with the clock showing to make it clear.

"Because I walked all the way over here and could use a breather." You looked at him curiously. He had a car, so why would he walk? He seemingly read your mind and answered your look with, "Didn't feel like wasting the gas." You made an 'o' shape with your lips in understanding before turning back to the tv. The rest of the time was filled with comfortable silence before another knock eventually sounded at the door. Both you and Thomas stood up as you made your way to the door. Once you opened it, you were met with Mettaton, Papyrus, Sans, and Undyne. Needless to say, you felt pretty intimidated by Undyne's presence from your experience with her at the party. In all honesty, you half expected her to start a random wrestling match at any moment.

"Aww look at you, darling. You dress up nice." Mettaton cooed to you before turning away to let you through the doorway. You stopped a moment nervously and looked back to Thomas for reassurance. He seemed to understand and pushed in front of you to walk out first. You followed in tow behind him. 

"HEYA SQUIRT!" Undyne yelled beside Thomas and you, causing you to jump in surprise. When you looked in her direction, she was noogying Thomas aggressively. 

"What's up Undyne? Good to see you again." He grinned back. You took a step back, half expecting her to come at you next, but when she released Thomas, she took a step towards you and held out her hand with a toothy smile.

"Nice to meet you! I'm Undyne, but you probably know that already!" She seemed friendly enough, so you decided it was safe enough to take up her hand. From her demeanor, you would've guessed she had an equally aggressive handshake, but it was surprisingly subdued and gentle. You guessed she was reigning in her strength for your sake, which made you feel a little calmer around the energetic fish lady.

"C-Cali." You answered back quietly before quickly pulling your hand back to yourself. She watched you curiously for a moment because of this action but eventually moved on without a word of it.

"WOWIE! NOW MY HUMAN FRIEND IS FRIENDS WITH ALL MY MONSTER FRIENDS! WELL, EXCEPT ALPHYS, BUT YOU'LL MEET EVENTUALLY, AND PROBABLY BE THE BEST OF FRIENDS IF I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, HAS ANYTHING TO SAY ABOUT IT! NYE HEH HEH! I AM THE BEST AT MATCHING UP FRIENDS, AFTER ALL!" Papyrus yelled out jovially and pulled you into a big hug. You were slightly uncomfortable with the close quarters, but you couldn't bring yourself to rip the happy skeleton away, so you simply stood stiffly until he eventually released you.

"Now that all the introductions have been made, let's all get going! That table isn't going to seat itself!" Mettaton called out cheerily and lead the way. The group began to head out in a small cluster of people. Papyrus walked beside Mettaton while they chatted casually, or as casually as someone with Papyrus' volume could chat. Undyne must've been put on guard duty by Sans, because whenever Mettaton would attempt to grab Papyrus' hand or lace his arm around Papyrus' shoulder, she would always insert herself between them. Whenever she wasn't inserting herself into their conversation, she was chatting with Thomas closely behind them. That left you and Sans to bring up the rear. 

"heya kid. we smelled smoke earlier coming from your apartment. what was that about?" He asked casually enough, but you could tell there was a slight bit of worry in his facial expressions.

"Oh, I was making some pizza rolls for lunch, but I, uh, kinda forgot about them? So they burned up to a crisp, but hey! It's all good there was no fire." You responded with an embarrassed grin, before adding, "I swear I can cook. I just got distracted was all." As embarrassed as you were to talk about your almost fire, you did have to mentally pat yourself on the back for not stuttering.

"hah, don't sweat it. you tried pap's spaghetti, right?" You nodded in response. Sans lowered his voice as he continued, obviously not wanting to hurt Papyrus' feelings. "then you know paps is no great chef, and i'm not _fire_ at it either, so don't _roast_ yourself over it." You let out a low laugh to him in response. As your group made their way down the stairwell of the apartment, Sans called out to the front. "can i just take us all through a short cut mettaton? i'm sure no one actually wants to walk to wherever you're taking us." That was weird. Sans didn't sound like he even knew where Mettaton was taking everyone, so why and how was he offering to take you all through a short cut? You were about to ask about it when Mettaton replied.

"No, the walk is half of the experience, darling!" Mettaton called back.

"YES, BESIDES YOU COULD USE THE WALK, YOU LAZY BONES!" Papyrus added.

"was that a pun, paps?" Sans looked like his cheeks were about to bust with how wide his smile was.

"WHA-... NYO HOH HOH! IT WAS NOT!" He cried back. Sans laughed heartily over the whole matter. As amusing as the whole conversation was, you didn't let yourself forget your question for the sake of conversing if nothing else.

"What do you m-mean shortcut? You don't know even know where we're going, so how do you even know that there's a shortcut to it?" You questioned quietly worried that the question would somehow upset him, even if there was no reason it should in reality.

"'s a secret." Sans held a finger up to his mouth in a hush motion and gave you a playful wink. If he was putting it like that, you figured it was most likely something magic related. After all, monster's weren't supposed to use magic around humans, so it wouldn't be surprising if he didn't want to reveal he was about to use it if Mettaton had allowed him. Plus, even if he was being playful about it, you could tell he was slightly serious about not talking about it.

"hello? anyone home?" Sans seemed to notice you had gotten lost in your thoughts and waved a hand in front of your face. You jumped a little bit from being pulled out of your thoughts, and when you looked to Sans, he almost looked guilty for making you jump.

"Huh? Yeah, sorry I was just thinking." You decided it was best not to ask any questions about his 'secret'. If it was magic, you didn't want to somehow convince him to use it in the case it pulled you into an encounter. Just the thought of being pulled into an encounter caused you to subconsciously move away from the skeleton a bit. He seemed to notice this and looked at you apologetically.

"sorry, i didn't mean to spook you." He looked toward the ground after speaking.

"What? No, don't worry about it. You really didn't." You reassured him with a small squeeze to his arm to be sure. A blue tinge ran across his cheeks from the light touch.

"good, was worried i scared you right down to the _bone._ " You raised an eyebrow at him and scoffed quietly.

"Awe come on now. That's not even the phrase. If your gonna pun, then for god's sake man, put a little _backbone_ into it." He wiggled his eyebrows at you knowingly when you realized he definitely set you up for that one.

" _tibia_ honest, i was hoping you'd say that." He grinned as the both of you continued to walk side by side. You both casually chatted back and forth for a few more minutes until you got distracted. In your defense, the distraction was totally worth it because it was an adorable white husky.

"Awe! Look at that dog!" You called out to Sans. He followed your gaze until he saw the dog as well. It was walking in tow with its owner and had a large splotch of mud soaking all the way up to its stomach.

"looks like he had a _ruff_ day." Sans commented looking back over to you in order to see your reaction. 

"That was _dirty_ , Sans! You didn't even give me a chance to make the joke first." You giggled back.

"I'M VERY GLAD THAT I AM UNABLE TO HEAR THE HORRIBLE PUNS THE BOTH OF YOU ARE MAKING!" Papyrus yelled from the front of the group, refusing to even turn his head to you both in acknowledgment. 

"but _pup_ yrus, you gotta throw me a _bone _here." Sans yelled back to his brother, only to receive a loud, "NO!" in response.__

__"I think you're _barking_ up the wrong tree if you thought Papyrus was gonna appreciate that joke." Sans simply shrugged back with a casual smile. He was silent a few more moments before finally speaking up. At this point in the walk, you were all walking out of a subway that you had all just ridden. Mettaton pulled Papyrus up the stairs quickly like he was trying to get out of eye shot, only to be quickly followed by Undyne and Thomas. This left you and Sans mostly alone to straggle behind the group._ _

__"was meaning to say something earlier, but uh..." The blue tinge on Sans' cheeks that you recognized as a blush grew brighter. "you look really nice." Your own cheeks lit up in response._ _

__"Th-thanks!" You embarrassingly squeaked out in response trying to sound as relaxed as possible. By now, you and Sans had caught back up, but the blush on both of your cheeks was still easily noticeable. You swore you heard snickering between Thomas and Undyne as they snuck occasional glances at you and Sans but decided to ignore it. You were too confused by his compliment to focus on whatever they were talking about. It had your head all jumbled. He was definitely trying to flirt, right?_ _

__"Well, it looks like we are finally here, beauties!" Mettaton announced the group's arrival and dramatically pointed up to the sign on top of the restaurant. It read "MTT Restaurant" in overly fancy, cursive letters. "It's my 5 star, highly appraised restaurant!" Mettaton added for anyone that couldn't figure it out._ _

__"so that's how the bag of bolts is paying for it," Sans noted while you looked at what was possibly the most luxurious restaurant you had ever seen._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to leave comments! I try to always respond to them, and will at the very least always read them.~


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